Wake Me Up
by kaill
Summary: DISCONTINUED STORY Lucas Scott was going down a path of recklessness. In order to get out of a punishment, he agrees to be sent to a family that takes in troubled youth. While there he meets Brooke Davis, the Davis' daughter. Opposites don't just attract, they ignite.
1. Prologue: Nowhere Fast

**Prologue: Nowhere Fast **

As he continued to run, the poor angered boy knew that if he got caught again the consequences would be much greater. His heart told him that no matter what happened that he needed to keep on running. There would be no good in taking a glance behind him to see how much distance there was between getting away and being taken away. It wasn't just his life that would change if he wasn't able to escape this time.

The bottoms of his sneakers hit the asphalt hard as he took strong strides down the road. If his heavy breathing didn't give him away, the few streetlights sure would. It wasn't the smartest move that he might be seen but, they learned his dark backroads with each chase. The boy thought that he had outsmarted the fuckers that were now becoming hot on his trail.

It became easier as the street began to angle downwards. He thought he would be able to slow his pace down. The problem was that he would have to put more weight on the ground to ease down. His momentum was too much for him to control and he could only keep going.

Finally being able to turn, he took his chance. The only figure he could see himself up against was his own shadow. The dirty blond only got so far before he was blinded by flashlights.

His arms went up to shield his eyes. "Fuck."

Only one light was taken away from his eyes. A stern look was sent his way. "Looks like we won this round of Scott on the Run." The cop turned to his partner. "Go ahead and cuff him. This one likes to fight back." He warned.

The other officer nodded and unclipped the metal handcuffs from his belt. Without showing caution, he told him to place his hands behind his back. He walked over to the boy and grabbed his wrist to lead him over to the squad car. Shoving his body down against the hood of the car, the officer clasped the cuff over his raw wrists. After giving the boy the same speech from the numerous times before, the officer forced him into the bad of the car.

Officer Michaels picked up the microphone that was contacted to his shirt. "Dispatch, we're bringing in Lucas Scott. Please contact Ms. Scott and tell her that we have her son in custody."

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><p>"Well, I hope you proud of yourself, Lucas Scott!" His mother told him as she slammed the door. She pulled off her heels and tossed them on the ground. The frazzled woman didn't bother to wait as she walked into the kitchen to grab herself a beer. "You just never think about anyone other than yourself, do you?" His mother shouted at him as she threw her beer bottle behind her. The brown glass shattered and the contents spread around the stained carpet.<p>

Lucas didn't flinch at the shrill sound of his mother's raspy voice. Instead, he just rolled his eyes and reached into his pocket and searched for his lighter. His fingers clenched around it as he waited for his mother to continue because as soon as she was done he couldn't wait to light up a cigarette.

"Calm down, it's a court date. We'll get a lawyer and get this shit dropped. Problem solved."

"No, not problem solved. Do you know how much money it cost to get one meeting with a lawyer?" She shouted. "I can't afford one for you and you obviously don't get it that you can't just luck out every single time."

"What are you saying?" He found himself shouting back because he knew exactly what her answer was going to be.

"Whatever that judge says is final. Community service, jail time, I don't care anymore. I don't want to hear any complaining out of you!" His mother pointed one of her fake nails towards him. "I'm done dealing with your bullshit, Lucas."

"And I'm done with this," Lucas turned to leave the small apartment but, his mother gabbed his shoulder. He felt rigid when he could feel her long nails dig into his skin.

"You're not stepping a foot out of here. I'm putting you on house arrest until your court date. The only time you won't be here is when you're at school. There will be no skipping classes to hang out with your lowlife friends." She explained.

Lucas removed his mother's hand from his shoulder. "I'm a lowlife just like the rest of them." His voice came out cold and emotionless as they slipped from his tongue. With that, he stormed off to his room.

After hearing her son slam his door, she combed her hands through her hair. The woman felt like sobbing. She couldn't remember a moment when their life wasn't this way. Her boy never smiled anymore and they weren't as close as she wanted them to be. Lucas was more interested in being with his friends and getting into trouble. Guilt built up inside her because she knew that she caused all of this. It all started when she got pregnant and dropped out of school. She thought that his father was going to be able to support them, but he bailed before Lucas was born. Jobs and boyfriends came and gone throughout her life. The men she dated were never invested in Lucas and they got into fights.

Something had to change. If Lucas would take responsibility for all that he's done, then he could possibly turn his life around. He needed a good wakeup call and maybe that meant that he had to sit in jail for a few weeks or even months.

For her, she knew it was too late.

Sinking to the floor, the woman covered her face. Her bracelets clashed together as she moved her arms to rest on her knees and to support her head. Crying, she whispered, "Please help, my boy."

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>Thank you for checking out my story. I am interested in what you think and if I should continue with it. Reviews are appreciated.

-kaill


	2. The Consequence

****AN: ****Thanks to alysef, CheeryBroody, sunshine, dianehermans, Mars, OTH12, and craxygirl54 for reviewing. This story is rated M for language and for other content in future chapters.

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><p><strong>Chapter 1: The Consequence<strong>

The days have been hell. Lucas thought that he could skip around on his mother's call on his house arrest. When she slipped into her drunk stupors, he planned on sneaking past her and getting out of the apartment. It wasn't that easy anymore. Instead, his mother was taking her own measures to ensure that she was the one with the authority and control over him. She switched her hours at her job so she was gone when he was and home when he was. It had never been that way or at least she never cared this much about it before. The first few days was when Lucas tried to test his mother's limits because she had never been able to stand behind her own punishments. Actually, he never felt like she was his mother at all.

School was the same exact hell that life at home was. His mother even called the school and asked if Lucas could have an escort to class. If his mother was trying to make a skeptical of him, then she succeeded. All eyes would drift to him when he walked down the halls with his escort. It may as well just be a security guard walking him to his prison cell. Lucas' attitude towards school was that it was a complete waste of time because he already made up his mind that he wasn't going anywhere with the life that he had. He never liked being forced to do thing. The only person he was ever going to listen to was himself because that's the way he learned to survive.

His friends didn't mind making snickering comments at him when they found out what was going on. They were never sympathetic towards each other because they wanted to act tough so they didn't get their asses beat. When Lucas had his freedom back he definitely was going to pay a few of them a visit and beat the shit out of them. Getting caught for it wasn't even on his mind.

"When's your court date?" The named leader of his group of friends, Felix, asked him. He let out a dark chuckle, knowing that it would only raise Lucas' anger.

"You already know the answer." Lucas bit back. He shook his head in frustration. "If I remember, this is your fault."

"And how's that?" Felix crossed his arms across hit chest. "You were the one who ran off like a fucking pussy."

"I didn't think that they would be able to catch me. I had no idea that the police were waiting for me around that corner." Lucas explained as he closed his locker. Then he turned back to Felix. "What did Tony say?"

"What do you think? He's pissed off at the both of us. He already gave me a wailing." Felix looked around the hall before lifting his shirt to show Lucas his scratches and bruises. He quickly put his shirt down when he thought Lucas had a long enough look. "God only knows what he's going to do to you when you show your face again."

"Fuck." Lucas punched his locker, causing a few people to stare at him. Before he could threaten anyone, Felix cleared his throat to let him know his escort was approaching them.

"I guess, we'll talk about this later." Felix muttered to him before leaving.

"You ready to go, Mr. Scott?" The escort asked. He was one of the school's counsellors that Lucas was sent to when he had an outburst in class and ended up pushing another of of the students. Lucas argued that he was being provoked but, the counsellor told him that the school prohibited the use of violence. That was another reason Lucas didn't think he belonged in school. Violence was a way he knew how to protect himself. Nobody understood him and he wasn't going to let anybody try to.

"I don't have any other choice, do I?" His voice dripped with sarcasm as he slung his backpack over his shoulder.

On the way to class, Lucas' mind was trapped on what was going to happen to him if he did see Tony before his day in court. As much as Lucas wanted to avoid going to jail, jail was also a safety net for him when it came to Tony. Tony was a sick and awful man and he used kids, like Lucas, to do all of his dirty work. If anyone was a pussy for being afraid of getting caught by the police, it would be Tony.

He usually skipped this class and wished that he could go off with Felix and the other guys. Anything was better than sitting through a class that made Lucas want to be forced out. For now, it served another purpose. Tony couldn't touch Lucas if he was in school.

"I guess I'll just see you after this." Lucas muttered as he walked into class.

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><p>Lucas hated that he had to report back home right after school. He thought that his mother had gone completely insane with her new policy. If he wasn't walking through the door by a certain time, she would call and have him searched for. It was all just a bunch of bullshit to him anyway. She never seemed to care before so what was the point of her stating now? It didn't make too much sense to him because he probably wasn't going to get away with just a slap on the wrist.<p>

He stopped in confusion as he looked into the parked cars that were in front of the apartment complex. His mother beat down car wasn't in her spot. There were at least two possibilities that he could think of. She was either stuck working late or already out scouting for him. As much as Lucas wanted to keep walking, he might as well respect his mother's authority, or lack there of, at least this one time.

His only plan he had during how mother's absence was to smoke. Early that week, she had searched his room for his lighters and cartons of cigarettes. Lucas knew that she was going to act like a snoop so, he kept one lighter and one carton in how pocket. Once he walked up to the door and walked up the staircase to their floor, Lucas entered the apartment. He had to hurry fast if he wanted to be able to calm himself by smoking.

He threw his book bag down by the door and headed straight back the way he came in. Putting his unlit cigarette into his mouth, Lucas zipped up his grey sweatshirt. The summer weather was now turning into a brisk fall.

Outside, Lucas flicked his lighter to try and get a flame. It was his last one and he was running low on the lighter fluid. His frustration grew when he couldn't get a spark. After struggling and failing, he tossed it in the bushes. The cigarette landed on the ground and Lucas felt like stomping on it, even though it was just a waste. Stuffing his hands in his pockets, he leaned on the cold bricks.

If he hadn't been stupid and gotten caught Lucas would be walking around town with Felix and his other friends. They walked the town everyday and still were able to entertain themselves. Here and there it was in the form of causing a ruckus but, at least, it was a good time. Other times, the group of boys would sit around the park and just talk. It never was about anything serious. It was just something to do when they knew that there was nothing in life that was gong to change them and make them better people.

When they weren't freeloading their time Lucas and the small group would pay Tony a visit. Felix was the one that introduced Lucas to Tony a few years ago. Lucas had no idea what he was getting himself into. Felix always talked high of what Tony was capable of doing and once Tony learned about you, there was no getting out. All he knew was that Tony could provide him with the rush he wanted to feel in his life.

Lucas wanted nothing more than to impress Tony. He always followed his rules and did whatever jobs he was set up for. At first, it was simple stuff like shoplifting. Lucas got tired of doing that and wanted to do things along with Felix. Tony was a drug dealer but, he used younger kids to do his deliveries. He even gave away a small portion of his profits if things went smoothly. It was very risky stuff that Lucas had gotten himself into. Since Felix had been doing runs longer than Lucas, he was the one that carried a gun just incase runs didn't go as planned. After Lucas' recant run, Tony had promised Lucas that he would hit him up with a gun. Now, that Lucas had failed, he couldn't help but think the first bullet would be for him.

The sound of screeching tires forced Lucas to push himself off of the wall. A black SUV sat a few feet away from him.

"Shit." Lucas whispered to himself. He knew exactly who the owner of the car was and it was just who he was hoping to avoid.

The window rolled down to reveal a man wearing sunglasses. His head was shaved and he had a bandana tied to his wrist. On his finger, he wore a large gold ring.

Checking around, Lucas began walking towards the vehicle. With each step he had to bury his nerves and show no fear. Tony had no problem with teaching him that fear was for the weak.

"Where have you been?" His deep voice asked him.

"My mom's got me on house arrest." Lucas told him.

Tony shook his head. "This isn't good for you, Lucas. I have clients and I'm losing my runners. I'm guessing Felix mentioned to you that I know about your last delivery?"

Lucas nodded. Tony would beat his ass in broad daylight. He guessed that he was only hear to give him one warning. Lucas decided not to tell Tony that Felix showed him his marks at school earlier. Actually, he said nothing at all.

"You're lucky that the police aren't going to investigate anything." Tony turned to his driver and placed a cigar in his mouth. He puffed the powerful odor at Lucas.

_You're the one who's lucky. _Lucas felt his eyes tear up and sting when the smoke reached his face. He turned his head away and let out a cough.

"It's better that you go to jail than me. I just came by to let you know that if you screw up next time, I'm not going to be so nice." He tapped the cigar on the windowsill and the ashes fell to the ground.

"You drove all the way here to tell me that this time you're not going to kick the shit out of me? Lucas asked defensively.

He took off his sunglasses. "Why would I do that? I wouldn't even tell you that you were going to get it. You won't be the only in danger, Lucas. Why don't you run along inside before your mommy sees us talking, hmm? Why don't you listen to your mommy, Lucas?" He let out a dark laugh.

Lucas clenched his jaw. "If you're threatening my mom, you son-of-bitch, I swear-"

Tony's laugh became stronger, as well as the driver's. "What do you think you can do to me? You're just a stupid fucking kid who just pissed off the wrong guy. Have fun in the slammer because I can promise you that when you're free, you wished that you never walked out of there alive." He tossed the cigar out the window and rolled it up. The car drove away, leaving Lucas wishing that he hadn't wasted his last cigarette.

All he knew at that moment was that his mother couldn't find out about Tony or what he had been doing. He didn't know how he was going to be able to make sure that his mother remained clueless but, Tony was going to make him fight for it.

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><p>"Lucas, hurry up! You can't be late for this!" His mother shouted as she knocked on his bedroom door. She had no idea what Lucas could possibly doing and she wasn't going to bother to find out what it was. She was already stressed out from so many things and the judge's possible design was at the top of her list.<p>

Looking in the mirror, Lucas watched himself as he attempted to tie his tie. With a huff, he gave up on it. It was his mother's idea to waist their money on nicer looking clothes to wear to the courthouse. To Lucas, it didn't matter what he wore because the final say was going to be the same. Plus, Lucas couldn't stand they way that he looked and as soon as he walked out of the courthouse or was cuffed and sent to jail, he would rip the tie offend mess up his shirt.

His thoughts were torn between jail and Tony's threat from a few days ago. Tony knew that Lucas was going to get some sort of punishment and that he would be able to still control him, even while he was behind bars. The man was good that way.

"Lucas!" Her voice came out more shrill.

"Hang on a fucking second!" He shouted back.

He walked over to his bed to pick up the belt that his mother made him wear because he wasn't going to get away with having low pants around her or anyone else. As a joke he began tucking in his shirt. After looping the belt through the loops on his pants, Lucas finally emerged from his room.

"I thought you were never going to come out of there." She told him. She turned to her son and took in how appearance. In all of her years of seeing Lucas, he had never looked so clean. "Seems like you had some trouble with your tie." She noted.

Lucas shrugged and looked down to his feet. When he lifted his head back up, his mother was standing in front of him. He could smell her strong perfume and the mint gum she always chewed to hid the liquor on her breath. Her hands reached behind him to lift up his collar and even out the tie. Then he felt a tug around his neck as she finished it.

"I used to do this for my father all the time after my mom died." She told him in her daze.

"Let's just get this over with." Lucas brushed against her as he walked around her. He shoved his feet into his black sneakers and opened the door. Then, without waiting for his mother, he left.

Leaning on the car, Lucas tapped his fingers against his thigh. He only turned his head when he heard the door close. It was followed by the jingling of his mother's car keys.

"Get in," she said. She opened her door and closed it.

The ride was going to be a long and silent one. At this point, it seemed more dreadful than his hearing. He got in and sat beside her. Her hands rested on the shell and her eyes stared straight ahead yet, she didn't put the car into reverse to take him to the courthouse.

"We're going to be late. I thought you were set on leaving." Lucas tried to joke with her.

"This isn't funny. None of this is funny." Her voice was stone cold.

He knew that it wasn't. Nothing was going to change the way things were the last few years. His mother couldn't look at him like he was still her little boy. Lucas had grown up because he had to. It was just the way it had to be.

"I just hope you understand that this is serious. Putting you on house arrest and everything else I've done. Things have to change, Luke."

He nodded, only to get her to pull out of the parking lot and drive away. "Can you just go? I don't feel like talking about anything."

Pulling away from the apartment, she began the drive to the place where she might be driving home alone from.

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><p>The judge cleared his throat and put on his reading glasses. The old man began flipping through the report. "Lucas Scott," his name echoed through the room, "it says here you were arrested September 4th, 2010 on the accounts of possession of illegal drugs and resisting arrest. Other claims of the same offenses, as well as theft are also listed. Are all of these correct?"<p>

Lucas heard the gasp escape from his mother. "Yes, sir."

"You're still seventeen, which means that you are still considered to be a minor. For charges like these,I usually rule that you spend time in the juvenile correction facility. I don't know why that this is your first time standing in a court room when you have admitted that you have committed these acts multiple times."

Lucas swallowed as he waited for the judge to just tell him that he was going to be behind bars for quite some time.

"Since this is your first charge offense, I'm going to give you the option. If there is a next time my ruling will be final, do you understand?"

"Yes, sir." Lucas repeated. He felt his palms become sweaty.

"You can spend up to 8 moths in jail, two for each offense, with bail," he paused, "There's a family that works with the county's juvenile facility and they could take you in during you sentence and you can have your correction there. Note, that at anytime they feel that you're better off here, they'll contact us and send you back. I'll give you a few minutres to speak with your mother about your decision."

Lucas took in his every word. The answer seemed so obvious that he would choose to go to some youth center because it beat being in jail. Plus, he doubted that his mother could afford to bail him out again. He just hoped that his mother had the same thought as he did.

He turned to look at his mother. When she caught his eyes she shook her head in disappointment. She stood up and walked over to him. "I want you to choose what you think is best for you." Her hand rested comfortably on his shoulder.

Lucas turned his head back to the judge. "I've made up my mind, sir."

The judge nodded and folded his hands. "What will it be?"

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><p>As Lucas finished up packing, he could feel his mother's presence in the doorway. With a sigh, he dropped his folded up shirt and turned to face her. She was leaning on the doorframe and held a tissue as she ripped at her mascara stained tears.<p>

"Even though we fight all the time and don't act like we're family, I'm going to miss having you here." She choked out.

Lucas shook his head. "As much as I want to believe you, I just don't. I'm not saying that to hurt you."

She slowly nodded. "All I want is for you to find a way back to get your life together. I know from experience that, that is one of the toughest things a person can do." She added with a soft smile.

He shook his head again. "Whatever. I don't think that this place is going to change me." Lucas went back to throwing his clothes into his bag. "The only reason I'm doing this is so I don't have jail time on my record."

His mother let out a sigh. "When are you ever going to just realize that you can't take the easy way out? I don't understand you, Lucas. How the hell did you get involved in all of these things? Did your friends pressure you into this?"

"No," Lucas told her angrily. She was always blaming his friends when it was only his fault. Admitting that out loud would just cause her to try and pry more answers out of him. Neither of them were ready for the revelation of everything that he has done.

He would be leaving his mother alone. She was vulnerable enough already and Tony was a mastermind when it came to messing with human emotions.

His mother walked over to him, turned him around, and wrapped her arms tightly around him. Her tears hit his shoulder as she pulled away. "Baby, why can't you ever just talk to me? And without this rude and disrespectful attitude?" She was practically begging him.

Before Lucas could answer, he heard the bell ring. It caused his mother to jump and he watched as she left the room to see who it was. A moment later she walked back into his room. "Your ride's here. I guess you better get going." She sent him a soft smile. Walking over to his bed, she finished up his packing and zippered his bag closed.

Lucas stopped his mother from carrying his bags and took them from her without saying a word to her.

Taking one last look, he walked out of his room. He had no idea how things were going to be at the Davis' Youth Home. Anything was better than staring at off white walls and having his brain bore itself out. The simple thought of Lucas coming home changed baffled him because this was the only way he saw himself: unworthy.

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><p><strong>AN 2: <strong>I hope you enjoyed this chapter. In the next chapter Brooke will finally be introduced, as well as some other characters. Please Review! I appreciate all feedback.

-kaill


	3. The Young and The Hopeless

****AN: ****Thanks to craxygirl54, RWbrucas, dianehermans, AllAboutBrucas, Mars, babyblues02, Leona, ReadingRed, sunshine, and BpDs89 for reviewing on the last update. I would also like to thank the readers who added this story to their favorites and alerts lists.

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><p><strong>Chapter 2: The Young and The Hopeless<strong>

The flat land that aligned the road slowly turned into a scenery of never ending trees and mountains. Lucas rested his head against the window. It felt hot against his temple as the sun beamed down upon it. He didn't know how long the drive was going to be but, he definitely knew that he was entering unknown territory. He was indeed miles from his personal normal.

When Lucas and his mother took his bags down to the van, he couldn't help but feel like he was being watched. Usually, the neighbors were spectacle of Lucas. Now, he guessed that they we're somewhat relieved that he was leaving. Who knew what thoughts were running through their minds as to why he was going and where he was going to.

As much as he didn't way to admit it, it was tough having to be around his mother when she was crying. All his life, the sound of her sobs were burned into his memory. The only reason why they were stronger and harder to hear was because he was the one causing them. Men came and gone in her life. None of them ever had a true commitment to stay. Over the years, Lucas became every guy that his mother ever dated. He played the tough guy and repressed the reality that he caused pain to others.

A bump along the smooth asphalt caused Lucas' head to bash against the window that he had put so much pressure on. He let out a frustrated groan as he sat up in his seat.

"Sorry about that." The driver apologized.

Lucas ignored him. At first, the driver tried to act friendly towards Lucas but, he didn't care for the phoniness. Maybe he was actually a nice guy and Lucas just didn't care. Trust was a concept that Lucas had yet to grasp. All he had in life was disappointment and he knew that wasn't ever going to change no matter who he let in.

"We should be there soon. Do you need me to stop at a gas station? You could buy yourself some snacks and use the restroom." He offered.

Lucas let out a scoff. Didn't the driver see where he lived? The only money that Lucas had for himself was the stash that he earned from being only of Tony's runners. He hid it in his room and decided not to bring any of it. By now, his mother was probably crying on his bed and soon enough she would stumble upon it. Then blow it all on alcohol to numb the pain in her heart.

The driver didn't try and get an answer out of him. His eyes remain on the road and he transported another teen to the Davis' Youth Home.

Another half hour passed before Lucas overheard the driver make a phone call to indicate that they were arriving on the property. Lucas turned his head to look out his tinted window. The driveway was quite long and curvy. He couldn't tell what the building looked like because of all the trees. In his mind, he pictured a grey building with a fence around it, like jail. His eyes widened but not because he was surprised.

_There's no way in hell. _After the final curve, a large wooden and brick cabin stood tall. A dirt path led into the woods. There was a lake on the other side and the grass was dried up and dying. This wasn't a regular rehabilitation facility. It looked more like a vacation home that families with money visit once a year at most.

A man and a woman were walking down from the porch along the gravel driveway. The woman had brunette hair and was wearing a knee length plum dress with a black belt wrapped around her waist and the man beside her had on khaki pants and a white polo shirt. They stood with bright smiles on their faces as they waited to see who was going to appear out of the van. Lucas couldn't help but roll his eyes at the he couldn't help but to look down at his own clothes. His shirt and jeans were ripped and they had numerous brown stains. Some were from dirt and the others were from blood. He already felt like he was their charity case. That's what he thought of any person with the luxury that he didn't have. They were do-gooders and Lucas hated people like that.

The driver got out and went to shake their hands. Lucas couldn't tell what they were talking about but he later got the idea when their eyes looked over to him. It was like they could see him through the black glass. He felt his anger rise.

Lucas didn't know if he was going to let himself out or if the rich snobs would tell his chauffeur to grab his bags and open the door for him. He combed his hand through his short yet, wild dirty blond hair. He wasn't on the wrong side of the tracks anymore. Nope, he was riding the fucking train.

He saw the driver walk to his door and open it. "Welcome to the Davis' Youth Home, Lucas Scott." He introduced and then walked to the back to retrieve his bags.

The sun shone bright and Lucas felt an instant headache as he squinted to make the agony disappear. Shoving his hands into his pockets, Lucas stepped out of the van and walked over to greet the Davis'. He wasn't going to act like he was afraid of them since they were the reason why he wasn't sitting in a jail cell. Like all new people, he was going to be skeptical of them.

"Good afternoon, young man. I'm Robert Davis." Mr Davis stuck out his hand firmly for Lucas to shake.

Lucas stared down at his hands and didn't take his out of his pockets. His eyes moved over to the woman. He could see the way her cheeks wrinkled as she streched her lips to smile. He rose his brow at the sight.

"Not much of a handshaker." Robert placed the hand that was offered to Lucas on his wife's waist. "This is my wife, Victoria. We're glad that you decided to come stay here with us. We're going to help you out anyway that we can during your stay."

It sounded like the man was making a promise to him. Lucas wanted to make a snark comment about how people's promises were complete bullshit to him just to get the cheeky grin to turn into a bitter frown. It was an expression he was used to seeing. Instead, Lucas kept his comment to himself.

Victoria reached out to hold Lucas' shoulder for support. When Lucas saw what she was trying to do, his body moved away from her. He could smell her perfume as a small breeze hit. It wasn't overused like his mother's was.

"Well," she dropped her arm and laced her fingers together. "Why don't we all get inside the cabin? I've got a big pot of chill on the stove and Robert has hot dogs on the grill. I'm sure you're quite hungry." She told him politely.

It was just another awkward meeting.

"Okay, I'm just going to check on that." She pointed over to the cabin and turned on her black heels to retreat back inside.

Robert Davis watched as his wife walked back inside. When the door closed behind her he turned his attention back to Lucas. "I understand that this is a new experience for you and we're going to try and make this as comfortable as possible. I talked to one of your officers and they faxed over your file. We'll talk about all of that in a few days. Right now, is what we like to call your settlement period. You can get situated in your room and get to know the other teens that are staying with us."

Lucas nodded and wondered what Mr. Davis thought of when he read through his file. He also wondered about the others that he mentioned. What were they like that they ended up here, too?

"You're not a talker either, are you?" Robert mused before motioning Lucas to follow him inside the cabin.

With each step, Lucas' body heated up with nerves. His exterior emotions fought with his interior ones. The entire drive Lucas felt like he wouldn't care about the place. What changed? Whatever it was he needed to brush it off so he could get through his sentence here and get the hell away.

Walking through the front door, Lucas felt uncomfortable. Just from the foyer, his apartment would only be a bit smaller. in front of him was a wooden staircase, where his bags were placed on. To his left, Lucas could see a room with couches and a fireplace. Ahead of him, Lucas could see the kitchen and the door that led to the back of the house. He couldn't believe that he of all people was in a place like this. Felix and the other guys wouldn't believe him and would just make jokes and laugh at him.

"I think my wife went to round up the others. They should be down in the kitchen in a few. Why don't we head in there? Afterwards, you can roam around the house and get used to where things are."

Lucas just nodded. His hands were still stuffed into his pockets. He felt like he should kick off his dirt covered shoes but, there was nowhere he could carelessly throw them.

The kitchen was also massive. It had a ton of counter space and an island surrounded by bricks. Even with a kitchen table and chairs, there was a bar built into the kitchen. Lucas didn't know what to focus his eyes on next. He wondered what his mother would have thought of the place.

Robert turned his head towards the entrance to the kitchen. "I think I hear them coming." He told Lucas.

One by one four other people around his age entered the kitchen. The first one to come in was a petite girl with medium length blond hair. From first glance, Lucas highly doubted that she had any bad qualities that needed to be altered. Behind her a tall thin girl followed her. She had red hair and Lucas could almost see every bone in her body. Lucas felt a bit of relief when a boy finally strolled in. He was almost the same height as the raven haired boy and their eyes were the same color. The last person to walk in was a brunette with olive skin. She moved her hair behind her ear as she walked past the group.

"All right team, this is Lucas. He's going to be joining us for the next few months." Robert told them as he came into the kitchen. On his way through, he gave the blue-eyed boy a pat on the shoulder. "You all know how your first few days were when it came to adjusting. I want you all to respect Lucas while he warms up to the new surroundings." He explained.

Robert's eyes traveled between the three and Lucas. He only hoped that they would try to get along with each other. It was difficult for the three of them to start talking to each other without trading insults. Things eased up once they figured out that they were going to be together for awhile.

"At least I'm not the only guy around here anymore." The boy said as he crossed his arms over his chest.

Robert nodded. "That's a good start. I'll let you guys get acquainted while check on those hot dogs." He clapped his hands together and let the kitchen.

The petite blond was the first to step up to him. "I'm Haley. I'm just going to warn you know that I'm tougher than I look. So, don't think that you can get away with anything just because I'm short."

"And a girl." The boy muttered.

Haley turned around and punched him in the arm. She smirked when he uncrossed his arm to rub the spot where her fist jabbed him. "See what happens?"

Lucas nodded and snickered. He thought it was funny that she had an attitude. It reminded him of a few girls that he and Felix met while working with Tony. They weren't the prissy type because that wasn't going to ensure that guys weren't going to try something on them. Felix knew how to play all the girls and Lucas was his wingman. He knew what Felix had planned for them and Lucas was just holding on to them until Felix was ready.

"You think that's funny?" The boy asked him aggressively. He took a few steps forward.

"Nathan, don't. Mr. Davis told you to take it easy." Haley told him as she looked over to the brunette girl. Then she brought her attention back to the two, already, feuding boys.

"Actually, I do and just so you know, I wouldn't try and pick a fight with me. Have you ever bashed another guy's face into cement before? I can tell you that it's not pretty and the sounds that it makes is graphic." Lucas threatened as he also took a few steps closer.

Nathan let out a scoff. "I'm not afraid of you or your colorful threats."

"Guys," Haley's voice intervened again.

"Don't worry, Haley. I'm not going to do anything stupid." Nathan said as he backed away. "I bet the bastard is all talk anyway."

Nathan was right about one thing. He technically was a bastard. His jaw clenched. If he could get away with it, then he would have punched the smug smirk right Nathan's face. Lucas didn't let anyone walk away from him, especially the ones who were provoking him first. Nathan wanted a rise out of him and he was going to get what he had coming.

Haley let out a sigh of relief. "Leave it to you to make the new guy feel welcome." Her sarcasm bit out. Her brown eyes looked over to the skinny girl.

The redhead wasn't paying attention. Instead, she was playing with the strands of her hair. Her eyes peered up when she felt the tension of stares. "Oh, Rachel." She mumbled.

"Rachel, why don't you set the table for lunch?" The last girl suggested softly as she walked over to Rachel. She carefully separated Rachel's fingers from her hair. Rachel sighed and walked over to the counter and with shaky hands did what she was told.

His blue eyes traveled from her straightened brunette hair down to her hazel eyes, which seemed to be darting to avoid his. From there he looked down to her red and white baseball t-shirt and blue jeans. He had never seen a girl look so, basic. The girls that Lucas was used to seeing were ones that worse tight fitting shirts and jeans, where nothing was left to the imagination. Their eyes and faces would be enhanced by makeup. Lucas once made out with a girl and he pulled away from her wring her lip gloss and cover up. This girl shyly standing in front of him was simple yet, complex because she didn't try and show off her body.

"So, what's your story? What's your big bad issue that got you stuck in here?" Lucas asked with interest.

Her lips formed a smile and she shook her head and chuckled. "I don't have any." Her innocent face quickly turned to regret. "I didn't mean it that way." She let out a sigh when Lucas remained silent. "Anyway, my parents are the ones who run and own the place. I'm Brooke Davis." She politely stuck out her hand just like her father had earlier.

This time Lucas took hold of her hand. His tanned skin went against her lighter tone. Her hand was also sanity compared to his rougher one. Lucas mused, "let me just guess, you're a straight-A-daddy's-little-princess with a not so innocent side?" He joked.

Brooke shook her head as she felt her cheeks redden from the heat that filled her body. When she first walked into the kitchen and saw the newest member of the home, she couldn't help but stare. The ruggedness of his physical appearance automatically drew her to him. She could see his muscles in his arms and she noticed that his facial expressions were always dark. Before she could let her eyes roam further, his eyes were studying her and she knew that she had been caught in the act.

"Nope. I do happen to have excellent grades for a home schooled girl and I don't do any rambunctious behavior." She sent him a shrug. "I spend my time helping out my parents."

"Well, aren't' you just one of God's saints sent from heaven?"

Brooke smiled. "Thank you."

Lucas closed his eyes and covered his face with his hand. He let out a muffled laugh and shook his head. "It wasn't a compliment."

"Oh," Brooke said quietly. Her hazel eyes looked way from Lucas when she heard glass shatter to the floor. It was followed by a whimpering cry.

"Way to go, Ray. Brooke, how about you clean this up before she tries to take a broken piece to her wrist?" Nathan asked her with an icy tone.

Brooke let out a sigh and walked away from Lucas. She knelt next to Rachel, who was sitting on the floor with her face hiding behind her knees. Brooke's hand rubbed her back. "It's okay, Rach. It's not your fault." Her voice soothed.

Lucas watched as Victoria came into the kitchen next. Concern was written on her face as she looked over to her daughter and Rachel.

"What happened?" she asked as she walked over to them.

"Rachel had a another little accident." Haley told her as she sat down on a chair near the other girls.

Victoria nodded. She walked over to Rachel and Brooke to look at the damage. "Rachel, is everything okay? Brooke, honey, why don't you go get a broom and sweep this up? I'll take Rachel to another room." She smoothed out her dress as she knelt next to Rachel and helped her up. As she lead her out of the room, she laid her arm across her shoulders.

Brooke started picking up the larger pieces of glass, careful not to cut herself with any sharp edges. She looked over her shoulder to where her mother took Rachel, hoping that her mother would be able to calm her down. Then she looked over to Lucas before leaving to fetch a broom.

"Classic Rachel." Nathan said aloud to break the silence. He took a seat at the table.

"Classic Nathan. Seriously, did the doctors take out your heart when you were born?" Haley asked him.

Nathan shook his head. "No. Come on, that's the third thing that she's broken in two weeks. I'd like to see her handle the Davis' good china."

Haley gave him another swat. "Watch it."

Lucas rolled his eyes at their banter and decided to join them at the table. So far, his day was quite interesting. This was only the first hour that he'd been there and the Lord only knew how the rest of them would be.

* * *

><p>After eating, Lucas decided to check out the room that he could escape to for the next eight months. When he reached the stairs, he noticed that his bags were already gone. He didn't like when others handled his things. Frantically, he rushed up the stairs. He calmed down when he saw them sitting outside one of the doors. Reaching down, his eyes peered inside the room. The walls were have wooden and have cobblestone. A queen size bed was next to a large window that opened to the back. His bed at home was half the size.<p>

Fully in the room, Lucas rested his bag on the bed. There was also a large closet and a fake plant in the corner. He felt like he was at some kind of resort.

He started to unpack his clothes. One by one, he placed his shirts on the bed. Once he found his pants in the bag, his hand instantly searched the pocket for his lighter and cigarette that he thankfully found in his sock drawer before leaving. The pockets were found to be empty.

"Shit," He muttered when he realized that his bags were probably searched before they were brought up. Lucas raked his hands through his hair in frustration. He was a still stressed from being here and he still had some energy built up from not getting into a fight with Nathan.

The people here were different than he was. They all had their twisted problems and had no problem showing Lucas that they weren't afraid of what he was capable of doing. That annoyed him because he preferred it when people knew to stay away from him. The control that he felt back at home was already being suffocated here.

A firm knock on his door made him look up. His eyes cowered when he saw Nathan standing halfway into the room.

"What the fuck do you want?" His voice growled.

"I did come to apologize to your high and mighty ass but, I'm rethinking it." He stated. Lucas noticed that whenever Nathan got defensive he would cross his arms over his chest.

"I don't do apologies so lucky you, you can just save it." Lucas told him as he peered over to his bag again.

"What did they take from you?" Nathan asked, still in the doorway.

"Nothing that concerns you." All he wanted to do was be alone. Nathan already seemed to like ruining his peace.

"Okay, fine. I just wanted to tell you that I do know what it's like to smack a kid's face into the ground. You're not the only one who acts like he's a badass around here." Nathan confessed.

Lucas looked up to him. He wasn't in the mood to trade stories because he could care less about what Nathan's life was like. The only one that mattered to him was his own. "I don't act like anything. I am who I am. Now, get out."

Nathan shrugged. "By the way-"

Lucas stood up, annoyed with Nathan again. "Do you not understand the meaning of get out? How about leave me the fuck alone?"

"Hey, I was just trying to make you feel welcome like the Davis' wanted me to!" Nathan shouted back.

"Want to fill your deed? Fine, thanks for the warm cheery welcome." He bit out.

Nathan shook his head. "Whatever, man. You're going to have a hell of a time here if you keep this up with me." Nathan walked out of the room.

Lucas closed the door and punched it with his fist. The wooden door stung against his knuckles and he didn't care. The pain replaced his anger. He looked at his red knuckles while his breath seethed. He wondered if he would be in more solitude if he had just chosen to go to jail.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2: <strong>Like always, I hope that you enjoyed the newest update! I also posted a new story. It's a darker Brucas story and is rated M. There is a disclaimer posted before the actual chapter explaining why. Feel free to check that out only if you want to. I understand that some topics are touchy for different people. I do not write to offend others and their beliefs.

Leave me some feedback, if you'd like. Thanks again for continuing to read. It means a lot to me that you all are enjoying this story so far.

-kaill


	4. A Troubled Mind

**AN: **Thank you for continuing to review, favorite and alert this story. All the notifications bring a smile to my face. If you already haven't checked out my one shot, _Passenger Seat, _feel free to do so. It's rated M for sexual content.

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><p><strong>Chapter 3: A Troubled Mind<strong>

Lucas was only able to keep his eyes closed for an hour. Even though his eyes wanted to rest, that didn't mean that his mind was ready for the downtime. So many changes were taking place for him and he wasn't fond of them occurring. For one, the living arrangements were at a much larger scale. It wasn't what he had in mind for a rehabilitation center. His other house guests were something, too. Haley wasn't so bad. Rachel seemed to be really screwed up and he was surprised because she didn't look like the type of girl to be in here. As stereotypical as that was, Lucas thought that she would at least look a little less like the girls he was used to screwing. Then, there was Nathan. Already, Lucas wanted nothing more than to beat his ass to a pulp. Who did he think he was? The high and mighty act wasn't going to make them friends, not that Lucas would ever consider it. He didn't need a relationship with any of the people here. Nathan was right about one thing though, he wasn't the only guy there anymore.

Mr. and Mrs. Davis seemed like nice people, maybe too nice. They had a bunch of screwed up kids living in their house and Lucas didn't know how there were able to keep things together. He guessed that they were shrinks and just knew how to keep a composure. Sometimes they seemed more like parents to these kids and that's not who they really were. Next was their daughter. She was another one that Lucas didn't know about. She sure made a first impression on him. Her physical appearance went against her personality. She was shy and when she talked, her voice was always calm and polite. There was a point where it came out raspy, like it was broken, and Lucas' hearing perked up. A chuckle escaped into the silent room when he remembered that Brooke took his insult as a compliment. This girl definitely was something. She was a Plain Jane.

He sat up and decided to take that tour of the house. There was nothing else that he could really do there until they started trying to shape Lucas into a well rounded citizen, which he would never be.

Lucas left his room and walked down the hallway. As he walked he noticed that doors were closed and hoped that everyone else was behind their respected doors. He wanted to guess which one was Nathan's and barge right on in to give him a taste that Lucas wasn't one to mess around with. He chose not to because all the rest were girls. Plus, freaking out Rachel probably wasn't the best option and Haley gave him fair warning not to mess around with her.

There was decent sized bathroom at the end of the hall. Another one was located between what he guessed were two other bedrooms. The doors to them were also closed. Privacy must have been a huge key to the Davis'. He couldn't imagine what it was like to have siblings fighting over a bathroom, especially if he ever had a high maintenance sister. Loneliness had it's perks after all.

Lucas remembered seeing a wall that had a large built in door. The room must have been renovated because houses usually didn't have double doors to enter or leave a room. He had no idea where everyone else could be. He guessed that they were locked up in their respected rooms, which was fine to him because he wasn't in the mood for anymore encounters.

He wanted to get a closer look at the room where Mrs. Davis brought Rachel earlier. He had no idea if they were still in there because Rachel never came back for lunch. After walking down the stairs, he turned right to go into the room. It was bigger than there kitchen, which was already quite large. Two bulk couches sat in the center of the room facing each other and there was a chair that was set next to the fire place. The shades in the room were closed and the flickering flames illuminated the room. It had a calming room and Lucas guessed that it was serving it's purpose. When he walked in, he was hoping to see a plasma screen TV or something because it looked liked the Davis' could afford more than just some plush furniture.

The wooden walls surrounded him as his blue eyes searched around for anything hidden in the dark. There was nothing around that caught his curiosity to explore further.

Yet, there was one that he certainly didn't expect to see when he walked out of the large room. The silky brunette hair cascaded passed her shoulders as she paced back and forth by the doorway. She looked nervous with her arms crossed and she seemed to be muttering to herself. Her eyes were glued to the floor. Before he realized it, her eyes were looking at him and her steps stopped.

"Did you need something?" She asked him as she fixed her posture and hid her anxiety.

Lucas shook his head and cleared his throat. "I was just checking the place out."

"Oh, could I have given you a more proper tour. Did you find everything okay?" Brooke told him with a timid smile. Her fingers moved her hair behind her ear.

Lucas shrugged his shoulders. "All I did was walk around and found things as I went along. What's that room?" He pointed over to the door.

Brooke turned her head to look into the direction that he was pointing. She knew exactly what that room was. It was the one room that her parents didn't let her go in and it was all for good reason. "That's where my parents do their therapy sessions. I'm sure you'll get a better look later this week."

"Great," he muttered. The last thing he wanted to do was talk to a therapist and now he got the luxury of living with two of them for eight months. Jail sounded good at times.

"It's part of the program. I find that it's quite helpful and I'm glad that my parents are doing this. Who knows what would happen if people like them weren't around." Her voice was soft, just like it always was.

Then he knew why she was intently waiting. Mrs. Davis must have taken Rachel there after her incident with the plates. He didn't care but he just had to ask, "How's Rachel doing?"

"It's Rachel's story to tell. I'm really not supposed to be telling you anything personal about her due to confidentiality and all that stuff." Brooke explained to him. "All I can really do is be a supporter to Rachel, Haley, or Nathan. And now for you, if you ever need it."

He nodded and just stood looking at her. Need it? Lucas didn't need any of it and he was sure that he didn't want any of it. All he had was himself and that person never asked for anything from anybody. It just got him in a world of bad decisions but, they were his decisions. He didn't know why he wasn't turning his back and walking back up the stairs. "I can manage on my own just fine."

It was her turn to nod. "I understand and I was just letting you know. We can't always do things on our own."

He always had a comment against that logic. That always got him into fights with his mother. His friends left it alone because they were just like him without a care in the world about anyone else but themselves. The sooner he got people to stop talking about it, the better chance they had of not getting their heads chewed off about how their lives were screwed up, too. Admit it or not, Lucas could find something negative to say about anyone.

Why he didn't give Brooke Davis scorn was simple. She would probably continue preaching nonsense to him and let his comments slide because they were just a result of all his built up anger. She was already making her mark on his thoughts. His anger wasn't built up. It was always just there.

"I've done it since I was a kid and it's gotten me through a ton of bullshit. This shouldn't be any different." When he saw her take a step away from him, he finally was able to turn away.

* * *

><p>It wasn't long before Lucas was interrupted again. This new place was just thriving with annoyance. Lucas looked over from the ceiling to the door. He was glad not to see Nathan trying to tower in the doorway. Instead, it was the shorter spitfire, Haley.<p>

"It's time for dinner. I wouldn't try pulling a Rachel move and skipping it if I were you. Robert or Victoria will come up here and find you." She told him as a warning before leaving him.

Lucas let out a sighing groan as he sat up. His feet hit the floor and he remained sitting on the side of the bed. The palms of his hands dug into his forehead as he rubbed it vigorously. In his home, there was no such thing as 'dinner time'. Instead, he would have to find whatever spoiled portions they had left in their small fridge. Most of the time Lucas didn't even care to look because he already knew that there wasn't anything around to completely satisfy him.

Walking down the staircase, the aroma of food hit his senses. A growl emerged from his stomach and he suddenly became interested in what was being served. He didn't want the others to notice that he was but, there was no fighting against natural instincts.

He entered the kitchen and stopped walking at the sight before him. The table was covered with food. In the center a large plater of cut meat sat. There were sides surrounding it. All the plates were empty and all eyes were on him. They ate meals family style and they weren't even a real family. Lucas hesitated as he walked over to the table.

Looking around at the seating arrangements, he noticed that Mr. and Mrs. Davis were seated across from each at opposite ends of the table. Haley sat next to Rachel and Brooke sat between them. There were two more seats left. Lucas let out a sigh at Nathan's obvious joke. He sat between the two empty ones, so Lucas had no choice but to sit next to him.

"It took you long enough to join us. I'm fucking starving." Nathan muttered as Lucas sat down. _Like he knows what fucking starving really felt like. _

Lucas chose to just ignore him. He looked around the table, not knowing what was going to happen. Maybe there were the type of people who used faith as a way to help their struggling. His fingers stayed in fists on his lap as they fought to be joined in grace.

It was Robert Davis who broke the silence. "Before we fill up our plates, I just wanted to say that I am pleased that you all were considerate to Lucas while he got settled in today. Over the next eight months, Lucas will be joining us. I don't know if all of you will be here for that because your progress has continued to show Mrs. Davis, and myself, that you're ready to get back out there. If for any reason, you feel like coming back, you are always welcome here."

Lucas let out a snicker because not everyone was considerate of him being there. His eyes looked over to Nathan, hoping that he would be the one leaving. He knew that it wasn't going to be Rachel.

"Let's eat up before the food gets cold." Robert said enthusiastically as he rubbed his hands together.

Lucas watched as the stillness was broken by clatter of plates and chatter filled the room. He remained in his statue state, not knowing how much food he was allowed to take. He didn't want to seem like a poor boy and fill his plate with huge helpings of food. His eyes watched as spoons plopped food onto plates and people began eating, except for one other individual.

Rachel sat just like Lucas. Her hands were under the table and her flat hair hung in her face as her posture seemed to hunch over. It was now more obvious to him that Rachel had an eating disorder. Her body was frail and she didn't seem interested in food. She was basically just starving herself because it was her choice.

Then he saw Brooke lean over to her. Her lips moved as Rachel nodded. Rachel's fingers began pulling through her hair again as Brooke picked up her plate. She placed small portions on Rachel's plate and set it down in front of her. She looked up again to catch Lucas' gaze. It didn't last long because her attention was on Rachel again.

Her hand rubbed Rachel's back. "The food will make you feel better. I know that's what you're trying to do."

Rachel shook her head. "I don't want it. I'll just get rid of it once I get to leave the table."

Brooke held back her sigh because it was the last one that Rachel had to hear. "Or you could try eating it and not think about it so much. I know that you can beat this. I remember when you talked about how much you loved when you're mom made her parmesan chicken." Brooke said as she turned Rachel's plate, showing her what was on the glass plate.

Brooke looked up again to see if Nathan or Haley were staring at Rachel. Instead, the two were too busy eating to care. Lucas seemed to take interested in Rachel's off balanced sense of being. "If this is about what happened earlier, they forgot all about it."

Rachel shook her head again, going back to her mute and unresponsive state. She knew if she did this, then Brooke would stop pushing her to try and eat.

_Smart move. _Lucas watched as Brooke took her hand away from Rachel to pick up her own fork.

"Aren't you hungry, Lucas?" Victoria asked him as she sipped at her water. She noticed that the young man hadn't taken anything from the laid out food yet. "You can help yourself to any of it."

Lucas turned to look at her and shrugged. Of course, he was. His stomach hadn't stopped making noises of agony since he smelled the meal from the stairs.

"Well, dig in." Robert added.

Without hesitating, Lucas began to fill up on potatoes, chicken, and stuffing. His mouth began to salivate as soon as his first forkful of food was brought to his lips. The warm food made his mouth water more. He hadn't had a home cooked meal since he and his mother lived with his grandmother. It had only been for a few months because she passed away. For those moments with his grandmother and mother, it actually felt like he had a family. It was only for a moment.

* * *

><p>After dinner was over, Lucas decided to go out into the backyard while Haley and Brooke helped out Mrs. Davis with the dishes. He hoped for that peace and quite that he had been searching for the entire day. Everything was a lot to take in<p>

He hadn't admitted it but, he did wonder what his friends, mother, and even Tony were up to. He had left his mother more broken than before. He wondered if she had stopped crying over the fact that he was gone. His friends were probably still able to crack jokes and get into the same trouble as they always did. Felix might be missing on the brotherhood that had formed over the years. Tony could be doing anything. Even when he was home, Lucas could only imagine what Tony was doing. He could be using the other boys to recruit others or beat on Felix for the mishap. Whatever was going on back there, it had to be ugly.

Hearing the door opening, Lucas turned to see who it was. "Do you have some sort of tracking shit when it comes to me or something? Sorry to break your heart but, I don't swing that way." He told him in a pissed tone.

"Fuck, no. Even if I was, I wouldn't go after you." Nathan told him as he walked over to stand beside him. He copied Lucas' stance and put his hands into the pockets of his jeans. "I just came to tell you that I didn't even want to apologize to your punk ass earlier. I was told to."

It didn't make any difference to him. "I don't care."

Crickets could be heard chirping as the tensioned silence ripped through the air. Even in that silence, Lucas couldn't bear a second next to Nathan. "If that's all you came out here for, then you can leave now."

"Not when Brooke's mom is watching us through the window." Nathan said nonchalantly. His head motioned over to the window.

Lucas turned his head to see the woman drying a dish and looking at the two boys. When she was caught in the act, she started putting dishes away.

"So, I noticed that you kept looking at Brooke during dinner. Any thoughts that you have about her, you might want to keep to yourself. I was the same way with her when I first came here. She's not into it." Nathan commented.

Lucas turned to him. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, man." Nathan let out a laugh. "Are you telling me that you aren't having Brooke Davis fantasies?"

Lucas raised his brow in disbelief. No, he didn't think in Brooke in any sexual way and he didn't believe that Nathan actually tried to get with Brooke. There was no way that she would. She probably didn't even notice the signs of aggressive flirting. Nathan was nothing but a liar.

"I don't believe that for a second. Maybe, Haley, but not Brooke." Lucas told him, indicating what he noticed between him and Haley from their first meeting earlier.

"Brooke's got the body but, she doesn't know what to do with it and nothing's going on with Haley. If you try anthing on her, she doesn't mind putting you in your place."

"So, you've tried?" Lucas asked amused, knowing that he was right.

"Well, yeah, I'm stuck here until they think I'm good to go. I was the only guy here and I have urges. I even set my sights on Rachel but she's so stick thin that she'd probably break. Plus, she's pretty screwed up. Figures, I get stuck with all of the impossible ones."

Lucas just shook his head. Nathan fit the type perfectly. He was a cocky playing type that anyone from his group of friends would have a field day kicking his ass. All the girls Lucas knew would easily sleep with him, too. Tony would have no trouble manipulating Nathan just by those facts alone.

* * *

><p>It was happening again. Lucas was trying so hard to get some sleep and he just couldn't. How could he easily fall asleep in his small apartment with the sounds of car tires screeching, neighbors yelling, and the occasional gunshots? It couldn't be because that felt like home because that wasn't Lucas' vision of home. This place wasn't home either. It was too much for him to take in. There was never a time in his life that he would have ever thought he'd be living in such a high quality world. He used to pick fights with guys who acted like he was below them. He only got angry because he felt that they were right. They could talk smack to him but, Lucas knew what tough really was.<p>

For some reason, he was letting what Nathan told him get in his head. He started picturing Nathan with his hands on Brooke. Everytime the thought would appear in his head, Lucas would immediately shake it off. Lucas had no idea why it was having such an affect on him because he knew nothing about Brooke and he didn't need to. The purpose of him being here was to avoid going to jail. It was much more simpler in his mind when he was thinking in that courtroom.

He snuck down the stairs to avoid waking anyone up. He didn't know if there was curfew in the facility and he didn't want to get caught on his first night. The Davis' were probably supposed to be reporting back about Lucas to the correctional office back home. They were probably waiting for him to screw up.

His plan was to lay down on one of the couches and bore himself to sleep. When he walked into the room, there was a glow from a lamp. A form was revealed and covered up in a blanket on one of the couches. The head turned and was startled when it saw Lucas. The book she was holding was closed and placed on the end table next to her.

"I didn't think anyone would be here." Lucas said.

"It's fine. I was just catching up on some reading." Brooke showed him her book before placing it in her lap.

He walked over to the other couch and sat down. "Are you one of those girls who read that vampire shit? I'll let you in on a secret, stuff like that doesn't happen."

Brooke shook her head. "I'm not an idiot and it's not...garbage. I read it for the love story, not the supernatural part. That stuff could happen. I'm guessing you've read it?" She asked him with interest.

Lucas grumbled and shook his head. "Sure, I only did it to get into a girl's pants. Who would have thought a crappy book could get a girl horny enough to sleep with someone?" He laughed at the memory.

Brooke shook her head. "So, you're one of those guys? I don't get why you think you have to talk like that all the time. It's disrespectful, if you hadn't noticed."

One of those guys, a phrase Lucas knew all too well. "I don't think. I just do. It's who I am and I could care less if it's disrespectful. It let's people know not to mess with me. Hell, it gets them off my case about things that aren't there business. This," he motioned between them, "is a perfect example."

"That wasn't my intention. I'm sorry."

"Another thing I don't need is apologies. Why don't you get back to your little imaginary world where guys are respectful, romantic pussies?" His defense built up again and it didn't budge when he noticed water well in her eyes. Lucas just stood up to let the single tear fall from her eye. There was no reason for her to cry. It wasn't like he had done anything to hurt her.

Brooke didn't understand why Lucas always acted with such disregard and vulgarity. When her parents first got the okay to open their own licensed facility, they had warned her that some people were going to come from harsh backgrounds and that she should be respectful of each of them. It was hard for her when she didn't get that respect back. She had nothing left to do but keep being respectful and hope that they would come around. Wiping her cheek, she went back to her book to read about how the love of a regular girl was the most intoxicating thing in the world, even if the boy happened to be a monster.

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><p><strong>Review Responses:<strong>

_craxygirl54, SouthernBelleBrooke, babyblues02, me, dianehermans, ReadingRed, and cookie-girl23_: Thank you all for reviewing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

_sunshine_: The Brooke/Rachel friendship is one of my absolute favorites! I'm glad that you like how Brooke is portrayed in this story. Don't worry, she's not going to be gullible in this story.

_Mars_: Thanks for sticking with this story and I hope I can make this version of Brooke an enjoyable character for you!

_goravens_: I don't know if I'm going to make Nathan and Haley a couple or not yet but, there definitely will be a friendship developing between them.

_BpDs89_: Lucas and Nathan will be having more arguments and disagreements. I actually liked that rivalry between them during the first season.

_dreamkent_: There will be no abusive behavior coming from Lucas. Thanks for leaving a review!

Thank you to all of you for reviewing. I hope this update was worth the read and the wait! I was going to post this earlier but, the email alerts were will be more Brooke next chapter. I know that I have been focusing on Lucas a lot. I know there isn't much M-rated scenes going on but, they will happen! _Escape_ will be uploaded within the next few days.

Your feedback is always appreciated! -kaill


	5. That Girl

**AN: **Thank you for continuing to review, favorite and alert this story. I've noticed that not everybody is pleased with the way I chose to portray Brooke in this story. I absolutely love Brooke's character in the show and I never wanted to taint her in any way. It's fanfiction and I'm just trying to write her in a different light. I love character growth and it will be involved in this story. If by the end of the story you still don't like her, then it was a trial personality that I will not write for again. I'm not going to justify anything. We all have our opinions and if you hate what I'm doing to Brooke or even me as a writer, then all I will do is respect what you think.

This chapter is mostly Brooke so, the tone of the story will be different in this chapter.

-kaill

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><p><strong>Chapter 4: That Girl<strong>

Waking up, Brooke let out a groan. This wasn't the first morning that she had woken up on the downstairs couch. Brooke usually went downstairs to read to get her mind somewhere else until she could drift off into sleep. She didn't want to move because of the awkward position that she slept all night in. The next thing she wanted to feel wasn't her aching muscles.

Last night she hadn't expected to see Lucas. There was something about the way that he spoke that reminded Brooke that not all people wanted to be understood. She wasn't the type to try and pry into people's personal lives because she wouldn't want people to do that to her but, how else would she be able to make them feel comfortable around her? The teens who came here often either wanted nothing to do with her or could find it easier to confide in her than her parents. She wanted nothing more than to help others but, sometimes it wasn't what they wanted in return.

She couldn't think of where to place Lucas between those two characterizations. At first she thought that he just wanted his independence, which she could never blame a person for. Loneliness was something some people actually preferred. At least, that's what they pretended. Brooke didn't think that people truly wanted to be alone. Who would be there if they wanted or needed somebody to just talk to? No, that couldn't be Lucas. His attitude was definitely some sort of defense mechanism and she could only begin to guess what kind of past Lucas had. There was a slim chance of her ever figuring out what it was if he kept up his walls.

Her parents might be able to get Lucas to open up, if there was anything to even open up about. Some days they got frustrated when they couldn't get further with any of the teens. Of course, they couldn't show their frustration because it wasn't about them. Her parents both used their own techniques, which helped a great deal. Her father tried being more firm, while her mother was more patient.

It wasn't easy having parents who were counselors all the time. Most of the time Brooke felt that her parents focused more on the others than her. Brooke didn't want to sound selfish and the others probably needed some more attention than she did. They weren't allowed to be parents to them but, there was no rules against them being mentors.

She didn't even have to walk into the room for Brooke to know that it was her mother. The scent from her perfume gave her away every time. The click of heels against the wooden floor became louder and the echo faded when she walked into the room.

"Brooke, did you sleep down here all night again?" Her mother asked her as she straightened out the couch.

She moved her stiff body to sit upright on the couch. "Yeah, sorry." Her hand rubbed her neck as she tried to loosen her muscles.

Victoria picked up the blanket that Brooke used and began to fold it up. "Is there something wrong with your bed? Does your father need to get you a different mattress?"

Brooke shook her head. "There's nothing wrong with it. I just couldn't fall asleep and I didn't think I would end up waking up here." Brooke shrugged as her mother placed the blanket over the top of the couch.

"How about you go into the kitchen and get breakfast started. I think it's Haley's turn to help out." Her mother asked her. In order to improve behavior, Victoria gave each of the teens different tasks. She thought that if they had some responsibilities then they wouldn't be so bored around the house. Some people liked getting lost in work as a way to bring them peace or a different focus.

Brooke nodded before getting up and walking into the kitchen. "Good morning to you too, Mother," she muttered.

"What was that?" Haley asked as she turned to face Brooke. She stood by the sink, drying her hands.

"It's nothing." Brooke told her.

"Okay." Haley stated before turning back to continue her morning job.

"My mother sent me in here to help you, that is if you want it?" Brooke offered. She almost said 'need'. From what she knew about Haley's character, Haley sometimes took certain words the wrong way. Sometimes talking to her was like trying to walk on eggshells.

"I'm fine. It's nothing complicated or gourmet. I do have one question, though." Haley looked over her shoulder to talk to Brooke. "Since Rachel isn't food's number one fan, what do you suggest?"

Brooke bit down on her lip as she walked over to the fridge. "It's not going to be anything too starchy or loaded with carbs. I would just put some fruit on the table for everyone and not focus on making her a full meal. That way she doesn't think that we're forcing food on her." Brooke explained as she rummaged through the drawers in the cold fridge. She pulled out some precut fruit and set it on the island.

"What do you call last night's huge dinner?" Haley asked.

"To make Lucas feel welcome. You know we do that for all the new people." Brooke told her as she walked over to the cabinets to find a bowl for the fruit.

"I know that. I meant what do you call what you were doing with Rachel last night?" Haley rose her brow and crossed her arms over her chest. It was like she was waiting to hear a reasonable answer from her.

She was trying to be comforting and thought that might Rachel to eat. Maybe she used her once-favoirtie food as a bribe but, Brooke thought that it was harmless. Would it make Haley believe her that she wasn't trying to force food down Rachel's throat?

Brooke felt frozen in her spot at the sudden feeling that she was being accused.

Haley sat at the kitchen bar, realizing that Brooke wasn't going to give her any kind of answer. She began picking at her fingernails. "I've never really told you this before but, I never thought you would be able to handle Rachel. You seem to handle everything pretty well. If I were you, I'd be stressed out to the point where I'd just scream. I know that sounds rude and that's just because I happen to be that way with people I don't really know." She paused and looked up to Brooke, "That's funny, right? How long have I been here and how much have we even talked?" Haley spoke. Her fingers began to tap the counter.

Brooke sent her a small smile to thank her and shrugged as she sat down across from her. Haley was right. It had only been a month that Haley had been with her and her family. When Haley first arrived, she didn't want anything to do with anybody. Brooke's parents told Brooke that it was normal behavior and that it was just going to take Haley some time to warm up to everything. Eventually, Haley did and she just went on her own way until the facility starting housing other guests.

"Seriously, how do you keep such a well-rounded composure?" Haley reached over to the bowl Brooke set down and started placing pieces of fruit into her mouth.

_It's more difficult than I make it look, that's for sure. _"I just remember that's it's not always about me. That sounds pretty lame, huh?" Brooke sent her a shrug.

"Not from where I'm sitting." Haley told her before she stood up to continue finsihing up breakfast.

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><p>Breakfast didn't go the same as dinner did. Rachel was the only one who didn't show up at the table, which was common in the mornings. It was a waiting game with Rachel and often enough, Rachel lost. Her mother went up to Rachel's room to ask her if she wanted to join them. She didn't have to eat but, she could use being around other people.<p>

Her mother had come back to the kitchen with no luck. Brooke could tell that her mother wasn't happy that she couldn't get Rachel to join them. That hidden frustration made Brooke question why her mother had even agreed to open up the practice for teenagers with her father.

Lucas was at the table and, like the previous meal they shared, his eyes occasionally glanced over to her. She didn't know why Lucas would look at her every so often because she thought that she was last person that Lucas would want to be around. She was wrong. His stares would turn into glares whenever Nathan would nudge him or make vocal gestures.

There was obvious tension between Nathan and Lucas. Brooke guessed that it was because Nathan wasn't the only guy anymore. That's what happened in nature so, this didn't appear to be any different to her. As long as there wasn't any fights between the two boys, then there was no reason to try and intervene.

Her father must have noticed the small rift between them. He began talking to Lucas how his first night went. Brooke tried her best not to listen in and looked over to Haley. Sure, the never really talked but, could that one conversation from earlier change anything between them?

After cleaning up the kitchen, Brooke headed up to her bedroom. On her way, she met up with Nathan, who was coming down. He had left the kitchen as soon as he was done eating.

"Excuse me," she told him as she tried to walk around him. She let out a sigh when Nathan stepped sideways to block her. A smug look on his face emrged, knowing that he was still able to toy with her.

"I know that we didn't work out but, I wouldn't try anything with Lucas." He told her.

What made him think that she would ever try something with Lucas? She wouldn't hookup with just anybody, especially people who came here because they needed extra guidance.

"You saw the way he was looking at you, right?" He questioned.

"I don't have time for this." She felt her shyness shade over her. "Could you please just step aside?" Brooke asked him as she tried getting around him.

"It wouldn't be fair, you know? I have more more to offer you than Lucas does." His smug smile grew bigger.

"Could you please just drop it? Nothing is going to go on with Lucas and nothing is going to happen with you." She told him, trying to fight her timidness from his words.

"Calm down," Nathan reached out to touch her arm but, Brooke moved away from it, "I was just messing with you. I know that my time has passed but, if you're ever interested you know where to find me." He walked around her and headed back downstairs.

She didn't even watch him go as she started making her way up the stairs again.

Nathan arrived to the cabin after Haley. His parents found out about the Davis' from a therapist they were seeing. At first, Nathan didn't see problematic at all. He seemed to want to get along with both her parents and her. Haley wasn't too fond of him and called Nathan's kindness "The Common Bad Boy" first impression. She thought there was some kind of hidden agenda.

Again, Haley was right on the mark. Whenever Brooke's parents weren't around, Nathan would make provocative comments to and flirt with both of the girls. Haley had an easier time putting Nathan in his place than Brooke did. Brooke didn't like that kind of attention from the guys because she didn't think it was truly postive attention.

She was just that girl; the girl who they could try and manipulate. Brooke didn't want to be that girl for anyone. She didn't understand how she could keep giving people the benefit of the doubt. One experience can change everything. One person can leave permanent mark on your memory.

It happened before Haley came to the cabin. Brooke could still picture his face even when she was sure that she had forgotten every detail about him. It was over a year ago and it still haunted her. The night was the worst of all.

Her parents didn't even know about it because Brooke didn't tell them and she knew that the boy wouldn't. Plus, they seemed too busy with everything else to notice that their own daughter had a darkness of her own. She was great at hiding it and even two therapists never tried to figure out.

She thought she could cope on her own. It shouldn't be that difficult. She's seen how her parents handle their cases so, why couldn't she try to fix herself? All she had to do was get passed the bump and she'd be free. At least, she told herself that it didn't matter what happened because it didn't get far.

Part of her wanted to laugh at what Nathan had said about Lucas. There was no way in hell that Lucas would ever be interested in her and she could not be interested in a guy like him. He seemed rude and obviously troubled in some way. Her parents would not be pleased with her if she ever had a relationship with one of their patients. It was unethical and these weren't the type of people who they probably wanted their daughter to be involved with. In the end, would it matter? If they came here to turn their lives around, then wouldn't they be the right people?

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><p>Brooke decided to check to see how Rachel was doing. She didn't come down for breakfast and Brooke wanted to make sure that she was okay. Her parents checked upstairs every so often but, she still liked to know how Rachel was doing. She didn't favor Rachel over anybody else. It wasn't an intention that she ever had.<p>

Knocking on the door, Brooke opened it slightly to see if Rachel was even awake. She smiled when she saw the back of her. Her red hair fell against her back as she stood in front of her window.

Not wanting to startle Rachel, Brooke quietly closed the door and knocked again. It was louder the second time. To Brooke's surprise, it didn't take too long for Rachel to open the door. Usually, she either purposely took a few minutes before answering or she just ignored people altogether.

"I saw you." Rachel spoke when the door cracked open.

"I didn't know that you could." Brooke told her. "Do you have a minute for company?"

Rachel rolled her eyes as she opened the door. "I don't know why you people have to care so much." Her voice came out as a mumble.

"I don't have to do anything." Brooke told her as she walked inside Rachel's room. There used to be a mirror in the room but, her mother wanted it taken out as a safety precaution for Rachel.

"We missed you at breakfast this morning." Brooke spoke up, watching Rachel sit down on her bed.

Rachel just shook her head. She pulled her knees up to her chest.

That was one of the things she did whenever she felt like closing herself off from reality. Looking at her, Brooke could see the resemblance of a child. That was the same way she felt after _him._

Brooke took cautious steps towards the bed and slowly sat down when Rachel didn't budge. "Are you feeling okay?"

"I'm fine." _The most brilliant lie to get people to back off. _

"You know that you can talk to me, right? I don't have to say a word about anything that you tell me. Nothing you say will leave this room." SHe brushed off the feeling that she was sounding like a therapist.

When Rachel let go of her knees to reach for her hair, Brooke took a gentle hold of her arm. "Come on, Rach, do you really need to do that? You have such pretty hair."

Rachel wrestled out of her grasp and turned her back to her. She didn't feel that way and she hadn't in a long time.

Brooke let out a sigh because as much as she didn't want to, she had to give up and give Rachel time. Since day one, Rachel seemed to have high anxiety and grew skittish whenever something negative would happen around her. Her reaction over the broken dish wasn't the worst of it. Before she was sent here, she was in the hospital after passing out from exhaustion and low weight. When she woke up, her doctors put her on a suicide watch. Her parents were away a lot and knew that they could watch their daughter spiral into this emotionally unbalanced, self-conscious person. This place was supposed to keep her safe.

"Okay, I'll leave you alone and be in my room if you need me." Brooke told her as she stood up. She walked out and closed the door behind her. When she turned back, she caught the stare of piercing blue eyes from down the hallway.

Her thoughts went back to Nathan again but, she shook them off. His words didn't matter to her. It wasn't long before his head ducked back inside behind his own door. Brooke chose to let it be. There was another long day ahead of her and she never knew what exactly was going to happen.

Walking into her own room, Brooke closed her door to her own room. Just like she did everyday, Brooke walked over to her desk and pulled out her journal. She had started writing in it every day after that night. This way nothing was bottle up and nobody could judged her. She never reread what she wrote because once it was on paper, she felt that it could be erased from her memory. That proved to be untrue but, it was her own personal therapy.

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><p><strong>AN2: <strong>I hope that you were able to enjoy this chapter more than the last one and still want to read this story. I know that parts were a bit vague. I didn't want to give too much away in only the fourth chapter of the story. There will be a small jump between this chapter and the next. Thank you again to everyone who left feedback!


	6. My Head's a Prison and Nobody Visits

**AN:** Thanks to dreamkent, BpDs89, naleyLove4ever, CaseyJr, babyblues02, Mars, dianehermans, sunshine, fireangel08, craxygirl54, cece, curlylizard96, and xXalientatedXx for your reviews. There is still much, much more to get through with Brooke and Lucas' development and also everyone else's. I don't know about you but, I'm getting kid of bored with all the dragged out introduction chapters and I want to get more in depth with this story. There is a small time jump in this chapter to help that get underway. I hope you continue enjoying this story!

-kaill

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><p><strong>Chapter 5: My Head's a Prison and Nobody Visits<strong>

Finally, something different was going to happen for him. Over the past few days, Lucas found himself bored beyond belief. He understood that the Davis' just wanted him to feel comfortable, which he actually went along with believing. Of course, they wanted him to feel at ease here. Once they got him to that point, then all the therapy and correctional exercises would start. He wasn't an idiot. That's just how people worked.

His eyes scanned around the office while he waited for Mr. Davis to walk it. All of his certificates of achievements hung on the wall along with his diploma and degrees. Lucas could care less about how many the man had. It showed that the man was successful, which reminded Lucas on how much he lacked in that department. Back home, anyone with numerous achievements were seen as show offs and they were often treated with disrespect. Usually, it was the opposite but because the town was a majority of low incomers and screw ups, the social hierarchy was reversed.

Lucas rolled his eyes at the sight and turned his attention forward to Mr. Davis' desk. Just as he suspected, a picture of his perfect little family sat on his desk for people to marvel at and compliment on. Him and his wife stood behind their daughter. He stood with one arm around his wife's shoulders and his other hand was placed to rest on his daughter's shoulders. All three of them had smiles on their faces. They were the kind of smiles that felt like they had eyes and were staring at you, making you feel uncomfortable.

Minus the cheeriness of the family, Lucas leaned forward to capture a better look at Brooke Davis. Her usual flat straight hair was replaced by long wavy curls. It framed along her cheekbones and the auburn color made her hazel eyes glow with a hint of green. The length of her hair also highlighted the creaminess of her skin and of her gracious neck. He let out an audible sound of wonderment because this wasn't the girl he was used to seeing.

Then Lucas stopped himself from looking at her picture when he realized the thoughts that were being created in his head. Brooke Davis was just some little helper child, not some girl that Lucas would ever think about in such a descriptive way. That wasn't him at all. Girls were easy and he meant that from his ability to lure them in and how flexible they were to score with. It wasn't that any of them were stupid. The girls Lucas knew were friends of Tony and the guys, which often meant that they didn't have the most easy going of lives either.

The three girls that he lived with now were different, maybe not Haley. Haley could fit in with his group of friends because she seemed tough and could take any of the shit that his friends gave to her. She would be able to fend for herself and earn her place. Rachel wouldn't last, unless there was a secret sense of nerve and spunk that was hidden under all of her issues. Then there was Brooke. Her shy and polite demeanor would get her into trouble with his boys. She seemed timid, which would make taking advantage of her rather simple. That was a game that the boys liked to play with their angelic pray. At the thought, Lucas felt a small pang hit him in the bottom of his stomach. He was able to shake it off when he heard the clicking sound of the door handle free itself from the lock.

"Good morning, Lucas," Robert cleared his throat as he walked into the office. Under his arm he carried a hefty folder.

Lucas' only response was to follow the man with his eyes. Robert sat in his chair, put the folder down, and moved himself closer to his desk. His forearms rested on the chestnut wood as he placed the folder in front of him. It made a heavy drop, which made the framed picture rattle.

"Today is just your assessment day. We're going to spend some time this morning looking through your filed charges and other things that were documented. This was all faxed to us, just so you know because we are allowed to read through these things. Plus, you're a still a minor for being seventeen." He cleared his throat again, feeling it go dry from the talking, "We'll start with the basics. Could you tell me your full name, age, and date of birth?"

Lucas rolled his eyes. It was just like being brought into the police's custody all over again. "I'm Lucas Eugene Scott, seventeen years old, and I was born November 22nd, 1992." He sighed and looked down to his feet. This would have been a much different fate for him if he had been arrested just a few months later.

Robert nodded as his eyes checked over his information. "And you live with your mother, correct?"

He looked up again. What did living with his mother had anything to do with this? "Yeah, what's the point?"

"When we do start getting into your foundation to what makes you do things, it's a beneficial factor." While explaining he folded his hands together and rested them in front of him.

"Whatever, what's the next question?" Lucas asked him with an annoyed attitude. Even after being over this procedure many times before, Lucas still got agitated by adults wanting to know about him, even when they were staring at the papers that held all the answers. The cops were worse because the knew Lucas pretty well and they still asked him those same questions.

"All right," he began flipping through his records. "I think I'm going to save your older charges for sessions. Let's get on to explaining what happened on your most recent arrest. The paperwork says you were arrested September of this year on the counts of possession of illegal drugs and resisting arrest. I know the judge assigned to your case has read this to you already but this is just our protocol."

"What do you need me to explain other than I was arrested?" Lucas asked, his tone still apparent. He felt himself becoming more guarded because he thought that Mr. Davis was just going to try and dig deeper early on instead of in his sessions.

"I've heard it from your arresting officer and your judge. I want to hear it from you. What's the story from you?" The look in his eyes showed him that he was keen on listening to every word that he'd ever say about the matter.

Lucas wasn't buying any of it. This was supposed to be assessment day only, not ambush therapy. He slumped down more in his chair and leaned forward to rest his arms over his knees. If he was going to tell Mr. Davis anything, he was going to have to think and choose his words. He couldn't mention Tony because Lucas couldn't take any chances if the cops somehow got word about Tony's operations when it came to the youth in that area.

He started off with a shrug. He didn't want Mr. Davis to ask him why he did the things that he did. Talking about this should have been simple if he bullshitted it. It wasn't like somebody ever lied to their therapists, councilors, or doctors before and gotten away with it.

"I was trying to sell off some drugs and I got caught. I've gotten away from the cops before because I think they're pretty fucking stupid. It turned out I was the one who was fucking stupid because I ran right into their trap. The reason I resisted was because I didn't feel like going to the station and having my mom drag my ass back home just so she could tell me that she was tired of my shit."

When Lucas was finished Robert was nodding. He took out a Post-It and jotted down a few things. He stuck it on his computer monitor and looked back to Lucas. His reading glasses were placed back onto his face. He was squinting at what he had just wrote.

He just kept nodding and Lucas had no idea what was going through the man's head.

"Okay," he repeated his vocal filler a few times between his breaks of silence. "For starting off, you will be doing one-on-one therapy with Mrs. Davis. She'll give you more details. To put her area of focus in brief terms: she will be assessing your emotional and behavioral foundations. With her written recommendation, you'll then be placed back with me. I'm more of open-free type and quite interested in how this all started."

Lucas let out a sigh. "What if this doesn't go as you plan? What then?"

"Well," he rubbed his fingers against his chin, "it's simple: jail. The judge told you that this is your only shot and by law, we have to go by his word."

Lucas only at up to rest his back on the chair. If Mr. Davis was going to learn anything about Lucas, it was that he was often uncooperative. Unless he already got that from the times that he resisted arrest.

"We didn't tell you the last time but on Friday nights we all gather in the room across the grand entrance and discuss how our weeks went. It's almost like group therapy except for the fact we tend to be less professional about it to let you kids relaxed. I know that we probably cause a great deal of tension to people."

It was like a family night. Lucas still wasn't used to the whole family feel of this place. It wasn't there fault because Lucas didn't have that much experience in a close family relationship setting. All he had was his mom, his few friends, and then Tony's version of a family. None of it was humble. For Lucas, it was the the only thing that he had and it felt like the closest he would ever get to that feeling of security.

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><p><em>That smile had nothing to do with pure delight. It was wicked, sly, and full of sick accomplishment. Through her tears, she knew it was one that was going to haunt her forever. It wasn't going to matter if she closed her eyes or not, she was still going to see it. Those perfect white teeth beaming at her and his tongue tracing his bottom lip as he took in the sight of her. There was nothing about him now that she thought was kind. <em>

_He held the same look in his eyes. It didn't matter anymore that the green shade reminded her of brand new leaves that grew after a harsh season. The pureness was replaced by his wicked greed and hunger for control. His green eyes may as well have been as black as his soulless pupils_

_As he towered over her, he would tell her things as his hands went-_

"Brooke, did you hear a word I just said?"her mother's usual calming voice came out shrill.

Flustered with paleness, Brooke looked back to her mother. "I'm sorry. What did you want me to do?"

"I need you to go check to see if the washing machine went off and to put the load in the dryer. There is also a load that needs to get out of the dryer and folded. I know that It's Rachel's day to do the laundry but she seems to feel like talking lately. I don't want to turn away from her because it's been hard to get her to open up." Victoria explained to her daughter.

Brooke nodded. It was true. Over the past few days, Brooke spent more of her time with Rachel. She felt that Rachel liked having her company, even though she did deny it. Then there was her own selfish reason. Spending her time with Rachel or Haley put her battling mind at ease. Luckily, the feeling of selfishness passed when Brooke knew that it was about helping Rachel. They had talked a bit more about her eating habits. There was no earth shattering breakthrough but there was more than silence and avoidance.

"Thank you, Sweetie. I don't know what I'd do without you sometimes." She gave Brooke a quick hug before walking into her office.

It wasn't until her mother left that she let out her sigh. For one, her mother would probably be too busy with the work that she couldn't pass off to her. Then again, that meant that she would be able to counsel either. Somehow, Brooke knew that her mother meant well. It just was hard being ignored especially since neither of them noticed her mouselike behavior that now fenced around her. One day, she was sure of it, that was going to change. Maybe it would eat her up so much that she would act out of control and shout her problems away at them. Then they'd notice that a darkness had swallowed their little girl whole.

How could she be having the same nightmare when she was awake? All she had to was a have a free mind for an instant and it was right back to where she was fighting to hide it from. Lately, she was losing her control. It took her a struggling time to achieve just that in the first place.

_No, not today._ Brooke told herself as she inhaled and exhaled deeply. Her mind was going to be focused on the present and it wasn't going to be allowed to drift into her suppressed horror.

She sat up from the kitchen island and grabbed the empty white plastic basket with that strongly being reinforced in her mind. Maybe Brooke was being too focused because she barely made it out of her kitchen without walking into something. The connecting force made the basket bend and collide into her stomach. When the basket went back to its regular shape, Brooke felt the recoil. That's how she knew that it wasn't a wall or a table that she walked into. In fact, it was a male. She couldn't tell whether it was Lucas or Nathan because both boys had broad hard chests.

"I'm sorry." Her raspy voice almost squeaked out when she looked up to meet his gaze. Lucas stood tall in front of her, not moving or making one of his rude comments. Instead, he just stood there looking down at her without an expression on his face.

Again, she felt that feeling that her and Nathan both seemed to do to her. Both of the boys were tall in height, _towering_ over her. Every time she felt small and always had the feeling of swallowing.

"It's fine." He muttered as he moved out of her way as he walked into the kitchen.

She knew that she was going to beat herself up for this later but she couldn't help it. "How'd it go with my dad? I wasn't snooping or anything. I just remembered that you've been here for a week and they usually start with new patients after that." She knew that she was rambling and stopped to pretend to shirt the basket in her arms.

He gave her a look when he stopped to turn to face her. "It's confidential, remember?" His tone changed from his day to day coldness to a slightly teasing one.

She didn't look back up to him because she felt her body temperature rise and her cheeks flush into a scarlet red. Brooke didn't know why his simple remark was having that strong of affect on her. Maybe it was because she wasn't used to Lucas Scott not being nasty to her.

"Oh, yeah." She kept her nervous laugh hidden.

"Okay, then. I'm just going to go grab a bottle of water from the kitchen." He pointed behind him and turned back on his heel.

Watching him, she noticed that he was still the same Lucas Scott because he was shaking his head about something.

This unexpected yet, repetitiously cliché meeting at least ended differently between them. He went back to being on his own but it didn't leave Brooke in her rut. At least, for a moment it didn't.

_"This is all your fault, you know?" He inhaled deeply as he buried his face into her neck. "You're so intoxicating and it drives me crazy. I'll never be able to leave this place because of you."_

* * *

><p>Everyday he wondered about what was going on back at home. His worry was heavily placed on his mother. How was she doing without him there? Did she still cry because of him? He hoped that maybe she would just drown herself in working instead of alcohol whenever she couldn't take it. Plus, that might keep her away from Tony. Now that Lucas couldn't do anything to stop him, Tony could easily strike his charm onto his mother. It would probably work, too, because his mother was always in a vulnerable state.<p>

He also thought about how Felix was doing. If Tony was still upset with him, then Felix was probably getting it for the both of them. Felix was a tough kid and could usually take whatever punishment that he was given. He had the attitude to match. None of his friends ever dared to try and start something with him because he could easily beat their asses. He chuckled at the thought of Felix meeting Nathan. Unlike him, Felix didn't care where he was. If somebody was bugging the shit out of him, he'd put an end to it.

God, did he actually miss it? He truly did care about his mother, even though he lacked showing that to her and he cared about Felix like he was a brother.

He looked down at his hand. On the chuck of skin between his pointer finger and thumb, there was a scar. It was in the shape of an 'X'. The symbol was for there bond to each other, without Tony or anyone else. Lucas and Felix had bent a paperclip and took a blazing lighter to it. Once the metal was black and heated with a red glow, they pushed it into their skin, twice to make the brand. It burned like hell and luckily they were drunk enough for it to not hurt as much. That was until they sobered up.

There were days in the beginning where Lucas wished that Felix got arrested for a run or something. He'd be in front of the same judge and get the same ultimatum that he had. Felix would obviously take the pick of not going to jail. Then Lucas would have somebody here with him.

He was lonely. That feeling finally started sinking in to the point where Lucas had a name for it. Maybe he was lonely throughout it all. The scar on his hand was supposed to mean that there was someone who gave a fuck about him but, maybe it was just a drunken mistake between friends that shouldn't really be together. It could fade like smoke against the sky.

There was moment when he forgot that he was trapped inside his mind. It was brief and he'd experienced it before. He had a different feeling about it now. He wasn't pissed off like he was used to being.

When he bumped into Brooke, his reaction was quizzical. He looked down to her face and couldn't help but compare it to the one in the picture. Her radiance still existed and her hair seemed more silky when it moved as she looked up to him. There was a look in her eyes, which confused him. Her once sparkling hazel-green eyes held fear. What could she be afraid of ? Was it him? Was she really that easy to hurt?

Lucas shook his head. He was going to that place again, the place where he was wondering intently about Brooke Davis. He couldn't let himself visit that place and each time he failed to stop, he was getting deeper into thought.

* * *

><p>"Your parents sure do keep you busy around here. They pretty much treat you like you were one of us." Haley commented, walking into the laundry room.<p>

_Sometimes I wish they did treat me like I was one of you. _Brooke smiled as she took the corners of the towel together to start folding it. "It does keep me busy, which is a good thing, I guess." She placed the half folded towel on the table.

Haley nodded. "So," Haley came in further and waked over to the table. She started helping Brooke fold. "I was wondering if you wanted to take a walk with me. The weather's perfect outside and I'm dying to get out of the house. I'm pretty sure you'd rather be out there, too." When the towel was neatly folded, Haley passed it over to Brooke.

Brooke bit her lip. "I wouldn't mind that at all. I'll let my dad know after I finish with the laundry. He should be on his break by the time I'm finished." She took the towel from haley and turned back to the dryer to grab another one.

"Cool. We could walk the path." Haley told her.

Brooke stopped what she was doing. She closed her eyes because she had no doubts that they had widened.

"That sounds great. I haven't been out there in a long time." Brooke told her as she opened her eyes again, hoping that they would return before the sun retreated below the horizon. She didn't want to lose the sight of that cerulean sky, before it turned into an eerie grey and then to a suffocating black.

Haley sent her a smile, showing excitement. "Sweet, I'll even take my day off to help you." She motioned for Brooke to pass her another towel to fold.

Brooke gave it to her, "You don't have to, you know? I'm not just talking about the laundry either." She told her.

Haley shrugged. "I know. I'm going to be leaving soon and out of nowhere it hit me that it sucks that I didn't want to put myself out there and try to get to know you. It's too late for trying that with Rachel but, maybe it's not too late with you. I'm going to warn you that my track record with having girls as friends is pretty low."

Brooke sent her a small smile. "Is that why you got along with Nathan so well?" She felt shills asking her because she couldn't believe how Haley could spend time with him.

She shook her head. "Nathan's an ass." She started laughing at how she stated it so firmly. "I just get along with guys better because I can handle them better. It's not like with girls. For instance. let's say you pissed me off with a joke or comment. It's not normal girl behavior for me to deck you."

"I wouldn't want that, not that I would ever make fun of you."

"Why not? I'm sorry but, there has to be some balance of positive and negative running through your veins."

There was a ton of negative build up.

It was Brooke's turn to shrug. "I just prefer not to, that's all." She put her mind back to work to avoid this conversation with Haley.

During the rest of the laundry, Haley would watch Brooke. Something just had to be off with her. She'd never been around a girl who didn't have a bitchy side. As much as she wanted to be her true self and joke about how Brooke was drowning her inner bitch, Haley kept it to herself.

They headed back upstairs and Brooke told her dad that they'd be out to get some fresh air. He allowed it because Haley and Brooke were trusted enough to be out without his or his wife's supervision.

Outside, Brooke and Haley walked through the grass and over to the woods. There was a path that ran through it. Sometimes Brooke's parents lead groups through here so they could experience something different of just for a walk to clear their minds. Brooke didn't know if she was going to get that here ever again because it held so much pain for her to walk the dusted path that led off course to where she idiotically brought herself.

The dead leaves crunching under their shoes reminded her that it was the only sound that could be heard except for that night. If anyone else was in the woods with them, then the unbalanced fight of control and power was beating out struggle and foolish innocence would have been heard and maybe even stopped.

"I like it here." Haley spoke up. "I remember when your mom first brought me out here with Nathan and Rachel. It was fall and the leaves had just changed color and were still attached to the branches. The sun hit through them and they looked more vibrant. It was a pretty sight to witness with being from a rundown city. It didn't last long, though because Rachel was freezing and we all went back because of it."

Brooke listened to Haley's every word as the walked along. "I remember when we first moved here. I came through here with my dad to explore the area. We made it to this steam and we just stood there watching it in awe. I saw a family of ducks swimming along the side and there was one that wasn't as fast as the others. It wasn't that he was smaller than the rest. They were all identical. It reminds me of you guys."

"How do ducklings remind you of troubled teenagers?" She asked with a laugh.

"Well," Brooke licked her dry lips, "even though he had a hard time keeping up, he still followed along and tried to get there. That's how I feel you all are trying to do. There's this point you want to get to and you just keep going and eventually you'll get there. It's not just troubled teens. I thinks it's teens in general."

"Wow," her voice was almost a whisper.

"What?"

Haley shook her head. "I just can't believe how smart you are. I don't think many people can make a connection like that." Haley paused when Brooke waved her off. "Take the compliment. I don't throw them around that often."

Brooke sent her a smile as they kept walking. The path eventually started forming a hill. She stopped once she hit the top of it. Looking to the side, there were a a few skinny trees standing but dead at the same time. Below them was the spot where it all happened. That was the night she vowed she'd never return here alone.

"Are you okay? You keep spacing out." Haley was now next to her.

Brooke turned her head to Haley. "Yeah, I was just thinking about how much further we should go. My mom's probably looking for people to help out with lunch."

"Okay, then we can just head back. Thanks for coming out here with me. It wasn't so bad." Haley told her as she nudged her arm against Brooke's. She turned to start walking back towards the cabin.

"It wasn't so bad." She breathed out before turning to join Haley. She still couldn't do it without looking back and wanting to sprint out of there with her feet carrying her faster than her brain could interpret.

* * *

><p><strong>AN 2: <strong>I posted a poll on my profile about which story you would like to see posted after this story or _Escape_ is finished. If I could, I'd post them all now but, that would be too much for me to handle. If you would like to know what any of them are about, feel free to send me a PM. If you'd like to vote feel free to. Now, that I'm done with school for the semester, I may start weekly updates. Like always, I appreciate you all for reading, adding this story to your alerts and favorites, and reviewing! -kaill


	7. Fighting

AN: Thanks to fireangel08, dianehermans, Mars, CaseyJr, dreamkent, cece, xXalienatedxX, BpDs89, sunshine, craxygirl54, curlylizard97, and babyblues02 for reviewing the last chapter. I was asked how old Lucas was. In the last chapter I wrote that he was born in 1992, which means for this year he would be 20. He is actually 17 (will be 18 later on). This story was actually written in 2010. I hope that clears up any confusion. Lastly, this story is no longer on hiatus because the energy to write this is back! I hope you enjoy this next one. -kaill

* * *

><p><strong>Chapter 6: Fighting<strong>

"You want to hit me? I know that you wanted to ever since your punk ass came here. So, let's have it," Nathan's hands gestured towards his own body, "Fucking hit me already!" He shouted.

Was punk ass the only insult that this overly cocky boy could think of? Seriously, there had to be something else that Nathan could think of to call him. Even if being called a punk ass didn't offend him, Lucas still felt his palms become sweaty as his tendons tightened and folded into fists at his sides. Of course, he wanted to punch him. There was never a doubt that a good beating to Nathan would get him to back the fuck off once and for all.

"Well, what are you waiting for? You talk a big enough game. Show me how it's played." Nathan continued to push Lucas on.

Lucas scoffed and rolled his eyes. Nathan sure was a fucking joke and he couldn't even tell a good one no matter how hard he tried. Right now, he was trying way too hard and it was embarrassing.

"I don't know how many times I have to tell you to leave me the hell alone." Lucas gritted through his teeth.

Once again, Nathan was purposely getting under Lucas' skin. He didn't know why he kept letting Nathan get so far with it because it was the last thing that he wanted; a confrontation with this gelled hair jock. Ignoring him didn't seem to be working so if he was inviting Lucas to punch the shit out of him, he just hoped that Nathan would finally get the message and back off. He remembered that Nathan used to be the only guy here. If he was trying to show off and be some kind of alpha, he had another thing coming. Lucas was always up for the challenge.

All Lucas wanted to do was come outside and get some air. Tomorrow was his first session with Mrs. Davis and he didn't really know how it was going to go. It wasn't that he was nervous about it because adults just didn't make him nervous or fearful anymore, except for Tony. There was just so much that Lucas wanted to keep held in. His memories weren't some sob story for people to hear and then tell him that everything was going to be okay. Nothing in his life was ever fucking okay.

Then Nathan appeared and started running his mouth about some useless shit about how he once came outside to catch himself because he was so pissed off about something, like he always did. Anger. Was that why Nathan was sent here?

There was also more that Nathan was going on about that Lucas wasn't comfortable with hearing, that intially set him off. Now, he was more foucsed on Nathan.

A sick thought came to his head. He could use that against Nathan. If he learned anything from Tony and Felix, it was that weakness could always be found and it should be toyed with if you wanted to get ahead in the world.

He took a few steps closer to Nathan. "I don't talk game. People who talk like they do are nothing but scared little pussies who are high on themselves. Come to think of it, what's yours all about? Are you just a pussy, Nathan?" He tested, wanting to see just how far Nathan was willing to go. If he wanted to throw the first hit or shove him away, then Lucas knew that Nathan was not going to let Lucas get to him. If he backed off, then Nathan was just who he assumed he was.

Lucas smirked as he studied Nathan's face. His eyes were shifting and his teeth were putting so much pressure against each other that his cheeks puffed out a little. There fight in him alright and he was the one waiting for Lucas to blow his composure first. It wasn't a physical battle entirely as it was more of who couldn't take anymore verbal abuse from the other and break their jaw with one swift hit.

Lucas could go on all day. He had enough of verbal abuse in his life from his mother's so-caled lovers and Tony. Sometimes, just for the fun of it or boredom, he and his friends would insult each other just to cause a fight. There was nothing that nathan could say about him that would make him throw the first hit. He would have to know Lucas very personally to hit one of his buried nerves and no one truly did.

"You know there's so much built up tension between us that I bet you're surprised I haven't decked you yet. I will say that I'm impressed that you're still trying to get me to snap." If Nathan wanted to egg him on, Lucas had no problem playing copycat in the situation.

He looked down to watch Nathan's hands. Just like his had, they shook as they made fists. Lucas watched as Nathan began to raise one of his arms.

Nathan brought a finger to jab Lucas hard in the chest. "If you wanted to you would already have done it. So, what's stopping you because if you think that I'm afraid to hit you, I'm not. You're the one who's scared." He poked him forcefully again, trying to get Lucas to budge or stumble from his own stance.

"Me? Scared of you?" Lucas scoffed again. "Please."

"Yeah, I think you are. The tough guy is scared." Nathan repeated.

He didn't fear people like Nathan. It was usually the complete opposite. At school, the jocks knew not to talk or try to associate with him and his group of friends. Every time one would try to crack an insult or a joke about them a fight would break out in the halls. They were just the two types of people that would never have harmony.

As much as he could carry out their back and forth banter, Lucas had much better things he could do to occupy his time. "Change of plans, since I'd rather take a shit than do whatever the fuck this is," Lucas brought up his own hand to motion between him and Nathan. The two testosterone filled boys were so close together that Lucas hit both of their chests with his hand, "with you. I'll give you the five seconds to hit me. If you don't, well, then I'll just smack you around like the bitch I have no problem making you."

Lucas could hear Nathan's hard heavy breathing and he cleared his throat, "I'll even count for you to make it easier. 1," He paused to watch Nathan's emotions unfold.

"2," Nathan's knuckles were turning white as he clenched them tighter. Lucas wondered if he was getting more angry or if he just holding back.

"3," There was still no change in either boys' stance as they watched each other carefully to see whether or not there'd be a call or a bluff.

"Fou-" Lucas didn't have a chance to finish as he felt the side of his face being crashed into with Nathan's fist. He was caught off gaurd because he didn't think that Nathan was actually going to do anything but shove him away.

Lucas shook his head when he realized what had happened. He brought his hand to touch the side of his face. His tongue traced the corner of his mouth where he found a spot which tasted of his coppery blood. His teeth scraped against his lips as he tasted more of it to make sure that he was really bleeding.

"Who's the bitch now?" Nathan said moving his fingers. He had hit Lucas harder than he thought he was going to. He was proud of the fact that he was able to give it the force he was able to but he wasn't ready for the recoil.

"I have to say I'm surprised you had it in you, but you should have called me out as a liar because I don't give out free passes." Lucas took quick steps toward Nathan and lowered his stance, hoping to confuse Nathan. Then Lucas rushed at him and brought his arms around Nathan as he twisted his body and used his legs to bring them down.

Hearing Nathan grunt let Lucas know that his target had hit to the grass. Nathan tried fighting back by pushing Lucas off of him but he had no luck. Lucas was making sure that all his weight was contributed to keeping Nathan from defending himself. Just as Nathan had done to him, Lucas swiftly brought his fist from the air and down to collide with Nathan. His fist dug into his skin and his knuckles felt his jawbone at the contact. Lucas knew from the sound, that he could have broken Nathan's jaw. It wouldn't be the first time.

He pulled back and prepared himself to hit him again. Lucas wanted to make sure that Nathan never tried to pull this kind of shit with him anymore because Lucas had no problem putting him in his place: below him.

"What's going on out here?" A loud raspy voice called out.

Both boys stopped and looked at each other. Lucas had Nathan pinned to the ground and was holding his fist strongly over him, ready to slam it in his face again. Nathan's hands were wrapped around each of Lucas' wrists. Both were breathing hard, still wanting to finish each other off.

The voice reminded Lucas of how his mother would shout at him after she had been smoking or drinking. It made him shudder. Not because of the memory or his mother but because of how natural it sounded.

"Well?" Brooke stood with a look of disappointment on her face. Seeing Lucas towering over Nathan made her feel better because somebody was finally making him feel like he was the small one; he didn't control every situation. Fighting was against the rules.

Lucas sighed. "Cool it, princess. Nathan and I were just having a little misunderstanding but he gets it now." He put his arm down to his side before pushing down into Nathan one last time.

Nathan coughed, feeling Lucas push into his ribcage. "Fuckin', quit it, already," he struggled to say as he tried squirming to get himself free from Lucas.

Lucas let out a dark chuckle as he took his weight off Nathan. "That will teach that you shouldn't mess with me." He gritted before standing up. He was still heated from the fight and needed to take it on something. He could tell that Nathan had the same craving rage to hit something.

"Don't be so sure of yourself." Nathan told him as he stood up. "Just you wait until there's nobody around because I'm going to give it to you."

"Your threats mean shit to me." Lucas cleared his throat before raising his voice so the girls could hear him and because he now found it fun to screw with Nathan's head, "that's right, Nate, walk it off. No need to get so pissed."

Nathan turned and sent Lucas a glare.

"Hey! Enough!" Brooke shouted. She now stood closer to them. Her eyes darted at both of them, letting them no that she was serious.

Lucas had never seen her so angry before and it intrigued him as he eyed her closely. Her face still held the same softness, even though se was being anything but. There definitely was a fire in Brooke Davis that he liked. It sure beat her politeness that sort of drove him crazy. He wondered what other sides there were to her and how he could bring them out. _What fun that would be._

Then he stopped looking at her. No, he didn't want to know how to bring a rise of of the girl. Did he? _Pull it together. _

Nathan sighed. "You might not want to do all that shouting. It kind of turns me on." Nathan told Brooke as he walked past her.

"Finally get your ass handed to you, Nate?" Haley asked him as he brushed himself off and walked over to go inside.

"Shut up, Haley." Nathan gritted out as he brushed past her, knocking her with her shoulder.

Brooke let out a sigh. "I'm going to have to tell my parents about this. I can't lie about you and Nathan having problems getting along." She told Lucas, who seemed to be looking away from her for some reason.

Lucas calmed himself down enough for him to walk over to Brooke. "We don't have problems getting along. I would just prefer if he'd go fuck himself." He bit out, not at her but because he didn't care if he got in trouble because of fighting. He did it all the time and there were never any long term consequences.

"He probably does that." Haley chipped in as she joined them. "Lucas, I think you should just stay out here and not go near Nathan right now."

Brooke nodded. "She's right. Don't get in his face anymore."

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Whatever."

Brooke felt frozen in her place because she could feel the negativity heating off of Lucas' body. As much as she knew that she should walk away, she couldn't. It scared her that she'd rather be so close to Lucas at that moment. That feeling of stature didn't las long because She twitched when she felt Haley nudge her arm.

"We should leave both of them alone to cool down." Haley suggested, glancing at Lucas.

Brooke nodded. "You're probably right." Before going off to follow Haley inside, she turned back to Lucas. She couldn't really say anything to him because he was already walking away. She felt the odd desire to go off and follow him for some reason but she knew that it was better off if she stayed away. Actually, she knew that she had to keep her distance.

After Brooke walked ahead of Haley, Lucas turned to look at the back of the house. He let out another frustrated sigh from his raging anger. His hands threaded through his dirty blond hair, searching for a way for his emotions to balance out.

"That's more like it. I knew there was some feistiness in you. " Haley said as she walked into Brooke's room. She stopped when she saw the state that the newly brave brunette was is. It wasn't any different than what she had witness when they went on there walk together a few days earlier. Brooke possessed something Haley would never had guessed because of her polite and shy demeanor. Brooke Davis had a story and Haley knew exactly how it felt when someone tried to snake out the facts.

Brooke took a few deep breaths as she slowly paced back and forth in her room. Her fingers fumbled together as she tried to lace them together.

"Is everything okay with you?" Haley asked, leaning on Brooke's wardrobe cabinet. Her brown eyes followed Brooke as she continued her flustered walk.

"I don't what came over me." She explained.

Haley shrugged. "It's nothing to get worked up about. So you had an outburst of emotion? We're all entitled to them every once in a while. If you hold it in, you'll explode. Your mother told me that."

Brooke stopped pacing. That could have been it, couldn't it? She definitely had been harboring her emotions but she was writing them down in her own therapeutic way. There was a part of her that always wanted to be able to do what Lucas had done. Not physically fight with Nathan because there was no that she'd be able to get him down or be taken seriously by Nathan. The boy just had too much ego and he could easily take it as something else. She just wanted to feel like she was in control and when she was able to make two pumped up guys stop fighting, she felt that.

"I was surpised how quickly you got them to stop. I'm sure if we didn't see them from the kitchen, Lucas would have kicked Nathan's ass." Haley said, finally walking closer to Brooke and sitting down on her bed.

"You think so?" Brooke said, sitting next to her.

"Oh, yeah," Haley nodded. "Nathan may have his blinded anger on his side but it seems like Lucas has more smarts when it comes to fights. Nathan just does it because he's ignoring the fact that he doesn't think he can control it."

That meant that this wasn't Lucas' first fight. She wondered what Lucas was up to before he was sent to come here. Was that why he was here; because he got in too many fights? Or was there more to his story than that?

* * *

><p><em>His eyes opened immediately after hearing the echo from the slammed door. A pool of worry suddenly took over his body. All he could do was lie in the dark and listen to, yet, another one of his mother's fights with her boyfriend. <em>

_"Quiet, Lucas is sleeping." Karen hissed at him in an annoyed and agry tone. She threw her purse down beside the old couch. The jingling sound of her keys and other things made a sound as it hit the worn out cushion. _

_"Does it look like I give a fuck about that little shit right now?" The deep male voice exploded like a closeup firework throughout the small apartment. "I want to know what you did with that money I gave you. I don't want to hear that you used it to get that little brat another useless toy! I swear it always goes back to something to do with him!"_

_Inside the room, the little boy flinched. Any time voices were raised, he retreated his body to stone. He hoped that it would make everything bad just stop and go away. It never did but the feeling was left involuntary. Besides, this wasn't the first time a man disregarded Lucas._

_"For your information, I need money to take care of my son. He's the only thing I have and if child protective services get another complaint about me, they'll take him away!" She fired back, always having to defend Lucas because none of her relationships wanted anything to do with having to raise him._

_"You're basically telling me that you're using me as a fucking ATM. __Maybe Lucas is better off being taken away!"_

_Lucas heard a slap and hoped that it wasn't his mother who was the hand's target. When he heard a fearful noise come from her throat, he knew that she was the one who slapped him. He took his pointer fingers and jammed them into his ears to block out the rest. The rest never turned out good._

_"I'm in a relationship with you, damn it, not him! You will fucking respect me, you understand?"_

_She understood and that's why she could never escape. Did she know that she was taking her son, the one boy she promised to always love and protect, down with her?_

"I don't know much about my father or who he was. Since he left my mother when she was pregnant with me, the only thing I can think of to call him is a cowardly ass and he will never deserve the title of father. Actually, every guy that my mother's ever dated was a fucking asshole and none of the were sure as hell father material." He told Mrs. Davis bitterly.

It was their first session together. Lucas was scheduled to see Mrs. Davis at least three times each week. The actual time he actually had to see her wavered because she set it up to correspond with everything else that was going on. That was something Lucas wasn't a fan of when it came to therapists. They had so many other people they were doing the same thing with and he couldn't beleive how they could remember which pateint had which problem.

"Did you ever want to get to know him. Or any of them?" She asked him. Her legs were crossed while a pad of paper rested on her lap.

Lucas shook his head. "Why should I? They were all a waste of my time and apparently my mother's time, too. I was just able to see it first."

There were some boyfriends that he could remember his mother being with more than others. Usually, she always dated the same type: scumbags, no better off than them. They had no problem walking into her life, acting like gentlemen, and then showing their true colors when she was already in too deep. She tried to fight her way out and that just got her ass handed to her.

Lucas was tired of seeing men walk all over his mother, even though he had started doing the same exact thing to her. He had always told himsefl that he would never become like the people who did his mother and him wrong. He was old enough to fight back for her but she wouldn't have it. She didn't think that he'd be able to take them on. In reality, it would just cause more trouble for her and Lucas.

"I see. Did any of them ever try to make an effort with you? Did you tell your mom that you didn't think any of these men were good for her?"

_How many questions are you going to ask me?_

Effort? None of the relatioships his mother had been in knew anything about effort. His mother wanted the finacial stability and then men wanted his mother for sex. It was sick but it was just how life was. Telling her anything about her life being wrong would only turn into a yelling match between them. They'd go off topic and just argue about any little thing.

"I thought you were supposed to be focusing on my behavior and feelings and I was supposed to save my life story for Mr. Davis?" Lucas asked her.

Mrs. Davis uncrossed her legs and stretched over to place Lucas' notes and file folder on her desk. "What you're telling me actually has a lot to do with your behaviors now, as well as your emotions. I see it as an overlapping concept because of the way events shape a person. This relationship you have with all of the men in your mother's life have impacted the way you grew up." She explained, folding her hands and resting them in her lap.

The alarm on her watch let out a soft beeping. "It looks like our hour is up. This is a good start." She told him.

It didn't feel like one. Lucas opened up much more than he thought he would. He still kept things vague with her because e wasn't the type of person who was going to just spill out everything the doctor wanted to know about him. Hell, there weren't many people who did. Talking about himself wasn't one of Lucas' strong suits because no one cared how he was doing. At least, nobody ever really asked him that.

When he had permission to leave her office for the day, Lucas stood up and made his way towards the door.

"Oh, Lucas. Mr. Davis wants to hear all about your little scuffle with Nathan after dinner tonight." She pointed out.

So Brooke told her parents about his little fight with Nathan just like she said she would. Why was he surpised? Brooke was just being her good hearted self and not letting anything get past her parents' noses.

_Great, I look forward to it. _He thought to himself sarcastically as he turned the corner. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

"What? I happen to have a session with Mrs. Davis soon. Do you honestly think I'm stalking you? Get over it, I'm not a-"

"Don't even think about calling me that because I will have no problem making sure you'll never speak again." Lucas said darkly.

It wasn't just because Nathan was the one talking to him. He had been called a 'fag' before by his friends, as a joke, and by a few of his mother's suitors. His friends usally got a punch from wherever Lucas could reach them from. That usually shut them up until the next round of swapping smack talk started. When Lucas was younger, he didn't know what he was being called, but from the way they were saying it to him let him know that it wasn't a compliment. If he could help it, Nathan wasn't going to get away with what he let everyone else had.

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><p>It was the after hours of the fight that always seemed to hurt much more than actually getting every kick and every punch pummeled into the body. Lucas groaned as he sat up from his bed. He had fallen asleep and must have rolled over to his sore side. His head was pounding and his ears rang with an eerie high pitched tone.<p>

"Fuck," he groaned, leaning over and rubbing his eyes. He remained in that position for a moment in hopes that it would all go away.

Usually, he didn't care about his injuries. He ignored all the pain and soreness until it eventually went away. That's how many people he knew dealt with it. It was just like that saying about hair always growing back. Well, wounds heal themselves, too.

This time he felt like going to down to the kitchen to grab some ice for his face. He could already tell by the way he was drooling and by the sound of his voice that he was getting a fat lip.

On his way inside, he saw that Brooke was sitting at the counter eating a plate of fruit. He still couldn't believe how a strong voice came from a girl like her.

She looked up from her plate when she saw him enter the kitchen. Her eyes narrowed in on the swollen part of his lip. "Here, let me get you something to put on that."

"I can find it myself," he told her but she was already getting up and walking over to the freezer. He let out a sigh and let her do it.

"Hmm, do you want corn or peas?" She asked him over her shoulder.

_Just pick one. My face is a fucking mess. _"Um, the peas, I guess." He answered, rubbing his face.

"Here you go." Brooke placed the bag in his hand. "This should bring the swelling down.

"My parents aren't going to be happy about this, you know? They're going to want answers." She told him once she sat back down at the counter while Lucas brought the bag of frozen peas to his face.

The pressure from the bag couldn't beat the sting of the cold once it touched the side of his face and lip. He gritted his teeth as he fought off the sensitive sensation. Then his body relaxed once the cold took over on his skin to paralyze his nerve endings.

"I know. Your father already wants to talk about it. I just hope Nathan's not in the room with me when I do." He found himself confessing to her.

"That would just cause more fighting between you, right?" She asked, resting her elbow on the table and placing her knuckles under her chin to support her head.

Lucas shrugged. "I guess so."

"I've never seen anyone but Haley be able to shut Nathan up. None us of really can stand up for him since he thinks that were some stereotype of girl."

"I didn't know you had it in you." He told her, remembering her strength from earlier. The girls that he was acquainted with knew damn well to stay away from boys whenever a fight would break out. There were no boundaries when it came to their brute strength and if they accidently hit a girl, they'd be in more touble than before. Brooke had bravery.

"That makes two of us." She let out a small nervous laugh.

"I wished you didn't stop me though. I could have easily beat your boyfriend to a pulp." Lucas told her, hovering closely over her. He wanted to test his boundaries out on her. He had made many snarky remarks to her in their first few encounters and she never seemed to back off. Maybe if he made her freeze around him, she'd stay away. Nothing good was going to come out of it if she stuck around.

"Nathan's not-Nathan's not my boyfriend." She told him, slightly stuttering. Her body cringed at the thought of Nathan getting what he wanted from her. It was never going to happen.

"Oh, well, he seems to think that you're some kind of prize." Lucas hinted to her.

"It's not true." She told him, trying to focus on something eles that woul hopefully get Lucas from standing so close to her. She could literally feel the small distance that was between them. The feeling of him towering over her, making her feel small, just reminded her of that night in the woods. There was no fighting back.

He noticed that she wasn't comfortable having him around her and that's how he wanted her to feel. Maybe now she would back off. Being so close to her, Lucas could smell the scent of vanilla and raspberries coming from her. There was no doubt that he stayed an extra second to memorize what it was.

"Well, thanks for the peas." Lucas lifted it off his chin for a brief second before turning and going back upstairs.

"You're welcome." Brooke told herself, letting her shivers free to convulse from her body. She didn't know what it was all of the sudden that made her so nervous around Lucas. Before, Lucas was all about buliding a steel wall up around him. He didn't care about anyone else and preferred if people didn't try to make an effort with him.

Was that what it was that had Brooke thinking too much? Whatever it was she hoped that it would fade away in the nexxt few days.

_"I could have easily beaten your boyfriend to a pulp." _If only Lucas was at the youth home at the same time that _he _was because she was sure that she wouldn't have stopped anyone from making fear spill out of _him._

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><p>"Well, have a seat, Rocky," He nodded his head to the direction of the seat to Lucas. "You, too, Apollo Creed," He told Nathan, more sternly that he had Lucas.<p>

"Now, Nathan, you know all too well that there is no fighting allowed here. Plus, Mrs. Davis gave you many tips and excercises to do to control that fueling anger." He stated.

"I know she did." Nathan said, slumping in his seat.

Lucas looked between Nathan and Mr. Davis. As much as he wanted to speak up and tell Mr. Davis that Nathan was the one that provoked him, he didn't because who knows what Mr. Davis would say or think. He wasn't going to be the one to call Nathan out and be the one who gets in more trouble.

"Lucas, I'm well aware that you like being the tough guy but that's going to end very soon because we have a tolerance policy here and you're one more fight away from ending your time here. I know it doesn't seem to fair but without discipline, you're going to continue down this path."

Lucas already knew that he was far down the path that Mr. Davis was talking about. That path was the only one that Lucas knew to survive on him. If he didn't go down it, who knows where he'd be now and how weak he'd be. In his mind, the path did him some good. It taught him to not take bullshit from anyone. As long as Nathan didn't try and piss him off then there wouldn't be any reasons for him to fight. It was plain as that, get rid of Nathan.

"I understand, sir," was all Lucas could think of to say. He really wanted to let Nathan have it but it could count as his last words out of here and have him sent straight to the correction facilities. In a few months he'd be 18, and if he broke the policy, he'd go to the big house where nothing was going to cut it.

"I didn't think there was going to be a problem between the two of you but I was proved wrong. You both have very similar prsonalities and it's natural for people to butt heads every once in awhile, you know? Maybe that's all it is or maybe you two just aren't meant to be left alone together."

"Are you saying we're going to have a babysitter? That's a bunch of bull." Nathan exclaimed, now fixing his posture.

"I don't know what the two of you need. I thought you'd be the ones to tell me what you want." Mr. Davis responded, turning over to Lucas. "Well, have any solutions?"

"Yeah, keep him the hell away from me." Lucas muttered.

"Hate to break it to you, dillhole, we live in the same house." Nathan told him with attitude.

"Nathan," Mr. Davis warned him.

He shrugged. "What? Can you honestly tell me that was a good resolution? He just needs to deal with the fact that he's not the only one who can throw words or fists around. It's that simple."

"You're the one who should be hearing that. I could care less about you thinking you're the king around here or whatever the hell you want to call yourself. I was just fine being on my own." Lucas added.

"I see we have a little issue here with boundaries." Mr. Davis said, leaning back in the chair, hoping that the two boys could work this out on their own.

"I don't but he does." Lucas said, pointing over to Nathan. "People who like to be on their own don't try and surround themselves with assholes they can't stand."

The older man nodded. "It's something you both need to work on. Nathan, you need to respect the fact that Lucas wants space from you. The more you push him, the more he's going to push you right back. If there ever is a next time, you both might not be so lucky if my daughter hadn't stopped you."

"So this is my fault?" Nathan cut it, defensively.

"I wasn't finished." He told Nathan before starting again, "Lucas, as much as we would like to see you sociallize more, if you can get out of situation you don't like being in without using violence or any provoking comments, then you're making the same progress as Nathan would if he didn't cause you to feel threatened."

"I don't feel threatened by Nathan. I just think he's an annoying waste of breath." Lucas corrected him.

Mr. Davis shook his head. There was going to be work ahead of him when it came to these two boys. "I don't see this being resolved as quickly as I hoped. I think we should save this for when we have more time together. Why don't you boys just go find something to occupy your minds. I'll set time aside so we can get deepr into this."

_Like you really want to know some of the things Nathan says about your daughter. _Lucas looked over to Nathan, who was glaring at him. He didn't care because he was done with Nathan. There was no point in trying with him. If Mr. Davis was trying to get them to be friends, then playing peacemaker wasn't going to be his number one victory.

"You two may go now." Mr. Davis told them. He watched as both boys stood up at the same time. He tried to read off any tension that was between them by their body language. There was a lot that needed to be done to, at least, make them civil around each other.

"Now, you know not to mess with me." Lucas told him before going off in a different direction than Nathan.

"Really? I didn't know making a comment about Brooke was going to get you so riled up. Do yourself a favor and give it up. She doesn't go for screw ups." Nathan shouted after him.

_"Just get the fuck away from me, already."_ _Lucas growled at Nathan, who was now standing too close to him. _

_"Come on, man, we're guys. I just wanted to tell you about this dream I had." Nathan's tone was too light and arrogant for Lucas' liking. _

_"I don't give a shit about your little dreams." Lucas told him coldly._

_"You sure? You might need to picture it later when you need to release some tension. I sure as hell woke up and took care of myself right away." He chuckled._

_Was Nathan seriously telling him about him getting a hard on from a dream? Why couldn't there be someone else for him to share this shit with? _

_"There was this girl, no clothes, right above me. Her hands were scaling down my chest and she was straddling me. She had creamy white skin, long brunette hair, and hazel eyes. The next thing I know, she was kissing down my abs and then down to my-"_

Have some fucking respect! _"Don't joke about Brooke that way. She'd never go down on you." Lucas snapped. wanting to vomit from the thought._

_"In my thoughts she can do whatever I want her to. Man, she does all kinds of dirty things to me." Nathan snickered and then smirked like he was thinking about one of them right that second._

_Lucas shoved him away. Him and Brooke having any contact was the last thing he wanted to pictutre in his mind. Nathan was just doing this to mess with him and it sure was working. The bastard had no respect. He had enough of those in his lifetime. _

_At first, Lucas thought that Nathan was just trying to joke with him but now he knew that Nathan was looking to stir some trouble with him. Trouble was not on his list of things to have today because he knew that his court order was only giving him this one chance. He usually never walked away from a fight but for this, for keeping his mother and him away from Tony, he would. _

_Nathan took notice to Lucas trying to be the bigger man in this right away. "You want to hit me? I know that you wanted to ever since your punk ass came here. So, let's have it! Fucking hit me already!"_

He should have let him have it the second he asked for it.

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><p><strong>AN: <strong>I hope this chapater was worth making you wait two months for. I know that this BL story is lacking exactly that but have no doubts because there will be more and more as this story gets further along! Your reviews are appreciated! -kaill


	8. Therapy

**AN:** Thanks to **Its-OK-to-love**, **BpDs89, Guest, curlylizard97, babyblues02, xXalientatedXx, dianehermans, fireangel08, ReadingRed, xTheUnforbiddenxs2, craxygirl54, sunshine, rikki, **and** Guest** for reviewing on the last chapter. I'm sorry I kept you waiting on this one. I'll also be updating _Escape _in the near future as well! -kaill

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><p><strong>Chapter 7: Therapy<strong>

"Rachel, no!"

Lucas' eyes shot open when he heard Brooke's raspy voice ring out. With a hand pulling down on his face, he let out a groan. When he reached his swollen lip he let out a curse. The pain was still there, even though it should have faded but now that he irritated it, it was back in almost the full blown throbbing feeling. His tongue slightly poked out from his mouth to run along his bottom lip.

_What could Rachel possibly be up to now? _He thought, only bitterly because he had barely gotten any sleep. The loud banging and crashing brought Lucas to the conclusion that the racket and her meltdown were far from over.

Placing his feet on the ground and setting his hands on the mattress, Lucas began to bring himself to stand. Clenching his teeth and lifting his leg, Lucas could feel his muscles pull in his back. Trying to pin Nathan down a few days ago, caused Lucas' legs and back to be sore. That was thing about fights; the initial pain hurt like hell but getting over it days later was a bitch. Especially when he didn't know that the pain was going to shoot through him like slow moving spasm. He could only coldly chuckle at the pain Nathan was probably going through at the same time.

Stretching out to try and release the tension, Lucas walked over to his door and opened it to try and catch a glimpse of what was going on. Since he knew it that Rachel could be unpredictable, his best bet was to make sure she didn't know that she was being watched. Because she was known for her spastic behavior, Rachel was probably being watched by Haley and Nathan.

He squinted his eyes as he slowly opened the door. They opened fully when he couldn't see Rachel at all. The only person in the hallway was Brooke and she was knocking on the door to convince Rachel to let her inside. From what Lucas was witnessing, it wasn't going as Brooke was hoping it would.

Not being able to see if Nathan was paying attention was driving Lucas a little crazy. There was no way he wanted to let Nathan get to him like that. Maybe the bastard wasn't even aware of what was happening because he knew that Rachel did this often.

After Brooke had stopped him from getting a true hit to Nathan, Lucas couldn't help but wonder what else Brooke was truly capable of. He certainly didn't expect it from the quiet-as-a-shy-mouse girl he met on his first day. Brooke was showing more and more of a fight in her and Lucas sensed there was something causing her to fight back. It wasn't just because he had been a jackass to her that he wanted to find it out. Back home, whenever someone wanted to try and rally there was something more inner that wanted to break out, to break free.

Opening the door fully, Lucas decided to investigate what was going on. He knew it was none of his business because everyone around here, including himself, was into having complete privacy. Another reason why he came out of his hiding was to see if he could try to figure out any more of Brooke and what was going to make her crack. There just had to be something under her kind demeanor, something that made her niceness a complete act of bullshit.

Up close, Lucas could sense Brooke's anxiety, her tension. Her small fist softly knocked on the door, consoling Rachel. It didn't appear to be working like it used to because instead of hearing the door unlock, a familiar sound of something breaking erupted. It was one of Rachel's mechanisms.

He listened as he heard a faint crashing come from inside the bathroom. He came to a jolted stop when it sounded. For a second he lost himself in the memory of his mother breaking plates after getting in a fight with an old boyfriend. Lucas gritted his teeth at the vision of a young blond child standing in front of the small kitchen, watching helplessly as the distraught and angry woman screamed out and sent dishes clashing to the floor. Small pieces would chip off and graze his skin like small rocks. His fists clenched at his sides, wishing he was older and stronger to make it stop. Maybe then, life wouldn't be so bad.

Brooke turned when she felt him close to her. She knew that it was Lucas because when Nathan hovered over her he did it in a dominant and controlling way like he was toying with her. Lucas' presence was much more protecting, which was surprising to her. She couldn't let herself get lost in what she was feeling when he was near because Rachel was her top priority.

"I'm guessing my shouting woke you?" She asked him, carefully saying her words to let her thoughts of him go. _Obviously, Brooke. _

"What's going on with her?" Lucas asked Brooke, who frustratedly ran her hands through her hair and squeezing it between her fingers.

Brooke shook her head. "I don't know. The past few days she's been fine and I really thought that I was making progress with her and now," her voice got shaky with every word as she pointed to the bathroom door. She couldn't even finish her thoughts so instead she let out a long sigh.

Going back to the thoughts of not being able to help his mother in her time of obvious need, Lucas turned to the door. Why this pull to reach out to the redhead in ruins was possessing him all of the sudden was something that worried him. Was he becoming soft? Or was it because of the lack of being there for his mother that lead him to understand this crisis?

Brooke eyed Lucas. He resigned back to his statue like posture, his eyes burning through the door as if they could make it burst into flames. She stayed frozen, not wanting to try and piss him off, which seemed pretty easy to do. She wanted him to find himself on his own again. Waiting, Brooke wondered what Lucas was thinking so intensely about because his fingers began to shake at his sides, like they wanted to ball into fists but he was fighting it. Could it have something to do with her stopping the fight with Nathan? Surely, it couldn't be the same pent up anger from that.

Looking to his lip, Brooke could see that the swelling was still there. The small knick right below it looked like it could be infected but the small red ring around it was probably just from irritation. He swiped his tongue along it slowly, still locked in on the white wooden door.

She swallowed the lump in her throat, fighting her own eyes from being focused on Lucas' lip. As much as she wanted to get in the bathroom to get to Rachel, she wanted to know what was up with Lucas. He liked staying to himself and only talked to people when they engaged or, in Nathan's case, enrage him first. Plus, he always seemed to have snarky comments whenever she was alone with him.

When he came down to the kitchen to ice his lip, he seemed different with her. It was a odd feeling, both of them not having their walls miles upwards. At the time she didn't think too much of it but when she left the kitchen she couldn't help but to smile at his words.

_"I didn't think you had it in you." _

In that moment, being able to break up two full grown testosterone filled boys, Brooke felt defiant, like she was able to do the things she always seemed to fear away from. If she could have just been that spoken from the start, then things could have been different if she was able to stand up and be a voice for herself. She wouldn't be this way. She'd be a whole different Brooke. That Brooke that was gone might have had a chance to stay. She'd never have the chance to leave.

Shaking her head, Brooke forced herself to stay on task. Rachel was confined in the bathroom, where she could get into anything if she was as emotional detached as she had been. It felt like a race against the clock, but a small part of her wanted to believe that she could trust Rachel not to do anything. Then hearing the sound of broken glass, Brooke's worry rose to a new level.

Her parents were both busy with Nathan and Haley that morning so she couldn't bring herself to barge in during one of their sessions, especially with Rachel upstairs alone. Plus, she was kind of used to being the one to respond to Rachel first anyway, so her parents weren't always her first thought towards a solution.

She bit her lip, not sure if she could wait for Lucas to come back to reality like she had. "Um, are you okay, Lucas?"

_Haven't you figured it out by now? I'm far from okay._ He mused, knowing that she hadn't taken her eyes off of him since she turned around to face him. It was his fault for being brought back to memories of his past. He'd been bottling them up whenever Mrs. Davis was making an impact on how much he wanted to actually tell her. Lately after their first session, things would trigger him back to the days of screaming, fighting, drinking, and all the other weights that have been placed on his chest, suffocating him to keep quiet and stone like.

He cleared his throat, looking at her face for the first time. Her hazel eyes holding concern. It was for Rachel but a part of him wondered if any of that was for him. His tough guy exterior didn't want any part of her feelings and his interior wasn't going to be crumbled down because of it either. He didn't come here to feel like people could break him down and get to know him. This was an escape route and a safety net for his mother. None of this was about him.

"I'm fine. Move out of the way. I'll try to get her to talk." Lucas said, emotionlessly, burying his memories again.

Brooke didn't argue against him and did what he wanted her to. She could tell that Lucas was using a defense mechanism of his own. He didn't have resort to always doing that when he wasn't comfortable around her. All he had to do was simply walk away. Brooke would think about how he was doing, nothing could stop her from doing that, but she would push it aside and put her attention on Rachel, keeping it off of Lucas. That was her defense against thinking about Lucas.

Lucas banged his fist against the door, much harder than Brooke had.

"What are you doing?" Brooke cut in. "You're going to spook her!"

Bringing his finger to his lips, Lucas motioned for Brooke to quiet down. "Maybe she'll actually hear it instead of yours. You're knocking on wood, not cotton."

"I was being soothing." Brooke told him, wanting him to move because at the rate they were going they were going to spend more time arguing on how to knock instead of getting Rachel to let Brooke in.

Lucas slammed his fist on the door again, ignoring the shooting pain traveling through his wrist. "Come on, Rachel, I need to take a piss!" He shouted.

"Lucas!"

He turned to Brooke and chuckled with a mixture of dark and a bit of his own teasing. "What? If it works and gets the door to open, you should be thrilled." He shrugged.

Brooke felt her impatience with him rise. That feeling she had when she walked into the backyard was coming back to her. Lucas was, once again, going about things all wrong.

"This isn't something you should be joking about. Rachel could be in serious trouble."

She was right. Lucas knew that she was but he couldn't help but playing around with her. It helped bring out that spunk in her. He, too, wanted to help Rachel open the door, but it was in his nature to screw around and have fun with it. Maybe Rachel would get sick of their bickering and cave.

"I'm quite aware of the situation." Lucas mused.

Crossing her arms across her chest and eyeing him closely, Brooke let out another frustrated sigh. "Are you? I don't think you are because if you are then you wouldn't be doing this."

"Don't try to use any psychological shit on me, alright. Leave that to your parents." Lucas said, feeling his own flare rise. He closed his eyes, trying to keep it from getting any more worked up. "Now, do you want my help or not?"

"I didn't think you were trying to help. I thought you were just being a smart-" she paused, seeing a look of amusement spread across his stilled face.

"A smart what?" He was getting to her now and he loved it. He never was able to get this far into Brooke Davis' emotions and each inch he was able to sink further in was getting him more and more eager to break the next layer. It was definitely easier than he thought it was going to be.

"Nothing," Brooke mumbled to herself. "Just go if you're not going to take this seriously." Her voice was soft again, like she was defeated.

"Well, your way wasn't working either so I just thought I'd bring a different perspective." Lucas told her, joking around. Brooke had obviously had enough but Lucas was just getting started.

"Thanks for trying." She sent him a soft smile.

What was with her? One moment she's about to call him an ass and then the next she retreats back to the plain Brooke that he couldn't stand. Lucas furrowed his brow together as he looked down to her.

"What?"

He shook his head, backing away with his hands slightly raised in surrender. His back rested on the opposite wall across from her. Lucas watched as Brooke walked back to the door, not knocking but bringing her ear to the door.

"Rachel, are you okay in there?" Brooke asked, biting her lip, hoping and praying that this time she would succeed. "I just need you to open the door so I can make sure that you are, okay? We don't have to talk but if you don't come out, then nobody else is going to be able to come in. You know how everyone else is." Her voice stayed in the same tone as she talked to her through the door. She was trying to lure her out so nobody else could say anything to make her disconnect further and stay in there any longer. Plus, if the mirror was broken, then Rachel could easily pick up a shard of the glass and push it into her healing and already scarred skin.

Not hearing any response, Brooke sunk to the floor. her eyes looked across the hallway to Lucas. "She needs to be treated delicately. You can't push her around like you do with Nathan or me."

"Is that your way of apologizing to me?" Lucas asked with a slight attitude.

Brooke shook her head, waiting for the boy that told her she had guts to return. "Just forget it."

Lucas shrugged. "Whatever." As he began to push himself off of the wall, he stopped seeing the white door opening a crack, just as he had to spy. He cocked his head to the side. "We have company," he pointed over to the door.

At that moment, Brooke whipped her head around to see Rachel's face through the crack in the door. She slowly stood up, completely forgetting about Lucas. "Hey, can I come in?"

Her voice was clean and positive. Lucas found himself wanting to stay put to find out if Brooke would be able to pull through with her plan. He remembered clearly the first day he arrived that Rachel had accidentally dropped dishes when everyone was in the kitchen. Brooke was the first to rush to her side as Nathan and Haley made their comments to Rachel and to each other. Brooke was the one who had picked her up from the floor.

Lucas felt his own body sinking. His sore back sliding down the wall as he finally hit the ground.

It made him picture his mother again. After she had sent the plates crashing to the floor, she carefully waled over them and left to lock herself in her room. All Lucas could do was stand still. He thought nothing of it seconds later when he heard the theme song to his favorite cartoon play on their small television. His mind went numb as he watched the colors of the television blend together. He never once looked back to the kitchen or to his mother when she walked out of her room and then their apartment door.

Then the few hours of distraction stopped. The young boy got up from the couch and walked over to his mother's room, wondering if she was still inside. The door was open. He peered in to see the bed unmade and the room vacant of any sign of her. A strong scent of her perfume bit at his senses. Walking inside, he climbed into her bed and bringing his knees to his chest, he cried, waiting for her to come back and let him sleep there while she rubbed his back, letting him know that everything was going to be okay.

Lucas now found himself staring at the sight of Rachel, with her knees almost pulled to her chest. Her back was set against the tub. Brooke was sitting on the toilet seat right next to her, wrapping her bloody hand with toilet paper. Her pink lips were moving as she tried to control the situation. Rachel's eyes zoomed in on the stranger watching them.

His eyes narrowed on hers. There was a glimmer of life left in them, like they were crying with no actual tears. They were letting Lucas know that she knew all about him, even though she truly didn't.

To scare her off, Lucas sent her a threatening glare. She wasn't going to be another person trying to mess with his head.

Rachel's eyes turned away and looked at the dark red wad of toilet paper that Brooke continually kept wrapping around her hand. It wasn't going to help much with the bleeding or the fact that Rachel had punched and broken the mirror. It wasn't going to help solve the mystery as to why she did it either.

Brooke's hand rested on Rachel's shoulder, telling her that she was going to help her stand up and that she was going to be able to fix things for her. Lucas' blue eyes looked away and his jaw clenched tight. Brooke's soothing hand lightly touched Rachel's back as she stood up and left the bathroom; a soothing hand that Lucas never felt in his life, the simple pat of 'everything's going to be okay'.

He brought his eyes back up when he saw Brooke's purple socks stand in front of his feet. Ignoring his pain, he made himself stand up at a normal pace.

"I'm sorry about all of this. Waking you up and acting like a know-it-all. I just really think that I am the only one who understands her and who can help her turn things around." Brooke told him as she watched as Rachel went down the stairs.

"Um, it's okay," Lucas reached over to scratch the back of his neck, which made him wince from pulling his back muscles, "I actually should be waking up anyway."

Brooke nodded. "Oh, okay." Her lips stayed in a flat line. There was no smile. There was no wishing him luck in his session. Her annoying politeness ceased to exist in that moment.

Lucas shrugged it off. He expected something different but he was surprised when he didn't receive it. The only thing he could do to avoid any more wonderment about her was to brush past her and try to wrap his head around on how to get back to being the Lucas Scott he raised himself to be; the one where he didn't give a fuck about anyone or anything when it came to his own survival.

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><p>Now, at the kitchen sink Brooke was scrubbing her hands hard to try and get the traces of Rachel's blood off of her hands. When she had seen the damage done in the bathroom, she couldn't believe how such a fragile person could do such a thing. It made her only worry about Rachel's state even more. She thought that Rachel was making progress but maybe Rachel was only pretending to get Brooke and her parents off of her case all the time. As much as she tried to get herself to back off and let Rachel be, Brooke felt drawn to her; like she could help her because that feeling of shutting down emotionally and turning into a shy mute was how Brooke had tried to once cope.<p>

She had turned to other things, like writing in a journal. It helped sometimes. Other times Brooke would get it out all on paper and then she just wanted to tear the page out and rip it to shreds, never wanting to truly think back to that night.

The hot water had turned into a a steamy and burning stream of harsh water, causing Brooke to pay attention to what she was doing. Pulling her hands away and turning the water towards cold, Brooke looked down. The blood was not linger on her hands, it was probably gone long before she had taken her hands away. They were now a bright red from the scalding water. She bent her fingers to see that her skin had wrinkled and they slightly lost feeling in them from keeping under so long.

Grabbing a towel, she dried off her hands and forgot about it because they would recover from it in no time.

Brooke looked over her shoulder when she heard footsteps coming down from the staircase. "Hey," she said, seeing Haley walk into the kitchen.

"Hey, so I was going into the bathroom and I saw that the mirror was broken and there was some blood, too. Is everything okay?" Haley asked, sitting at the counter. She stopped when she saw Brooke drying her hands.

Brooke looked down to where Haley's eyes were looking. "It wasn't me."

"Good. I know that you're all strong-voice Davis now, but you don't have to be all destructive like us." She joked, rolling an orange between her hands. "It wasn't Nathan, was it?"

"It wasn't him either. Everything's going to be fine. My father's going to clean up the mess and then you can go back to using the bathroom like nothing ever happened." Brooke explained, tossing the towel down.

Haley wasn't buying Brooke's frantic behavior. "It was Rachel wasn't it? If it was I know you won't go in that bathroom and think about what she did every time. It's not healthy for you to be this way with Rachel, Brooke."

Brooke reached over and grabbed the orange and placed it back in the fruit bowl. "I know that. I can't help it though." _She reminds me too much of me. _

Folding her hands and resting them on the counter, Haley gave Brooke a look. "I'm sure you can. Out of all of us, you're the strongest ones. Well, thought-wise. Nathan and Lucas probably win that category, which you stopped so we'll never know." Haley joked, taking a different piece of fruit from the bowl.

"If we're talking about me being better than Lucas, I didn't know you girls thought of me that way," Nathan smirked, joining them in the kitchen.

"Actually, we weren't talking about you at all." Haley spoke up.

"Yeah, okay." Nathan said as he went to the refrigerator to grab a Gatorade. "We're you talking about how Rachel busted up the bathroom mirror?"

"Nathan!" Haley scolded. "You know we have to be respectable."

"What?" Nathan asked innocently before he shook his head. "It's not like it's some huge secret. It obviously wasn't either of you two and I saw Rachel coming into the office with her hand wrapped up in toilet paper. She did a pretty shitty job of it, too."

Brooke could feel a headache coming on just from all the discussion about what had happened to Rachel. Nothing was ever private here because they all live together and there wasn't too many of them, so playing the blame game to come to a conclusion was always a way of getting word around.

"Want to know how I know it wasn't that Scott fuck?" Nathan popped off the lid and placed it on the counter before taking a large gulp of his drink.

"Because it wasn't your face?" Haley propped her elbows on the table and rested her chin on top of them, feigning interest. "Enlighten me." She finished off by batting her eyes.

Nathan sent her a glare. "No, if it was his punk ass, then everyone would have made a big deal out of it because he's the new guy around here and it would be his first major meltdown." That's when Nathan turned to Brooke. "You remember our first meltdowns, right?"

The better question was how could she forget. Both Nathan and Haley had pretty graphic meltdowns, just like Rachel had. Nathan's was similar to Rachel's in the reasoning that it was a physical meltdown. He had been doing therapy sessions with her mother and the untouched and emotional disturbing topic of his father came up. Nathan was livid and even more sneer than he usually was when he came out of one of his numerous sessions about his father. The first thing he did was punch the front door. He had hit it so hard that he crushed his hand dented the door. Her parents still haven't replaced the door and whenever someone catches it at the right angle, they could see the dent marks from his knuckles in it. He continued his rampage and forced his first into the drywall in his room. There was a large hole from his fist in the wall, which was now patched up with a brighter while than the wall. He still had to walk around the house with both of his reminders, his triggers. The topic of his father was never to be mentioned or repeated unless it was behind the closed doors of her parents' offices.

Haley's break down was different from Rachel's and Nathan's that hers wasn't physical, but emotional, not that theirs weren't emotional because there were. Haley's was more of a verbal meltdown to the point where nobody was sure how they could act around her. Her parents didn't know what was setting her off. There were a few instances where Haley's emotions would flip without warning, which made Mrs. Davis think that Haley could have a bipolar disorder but didn't want to jump to that conclusion because Haley wasn't always manic-depressive and her medical records showed no medications or diagnostics of having any mental disorders. Eventually, Haley came around and confessed that she had a history of depression but it was minor enough that she convinced herself that she could control it.

Her tough attitude was formed by her treatment from her peers in junior high. She wasn't like the rest of the girls. Instead of roaming the halls with a clique of girls, Haley would hang around her locker with her guys friends. She didn't wear makeup or keep up with fashion tips. She wore her hooded sweatshirts or her plain washed out shirts and talked sports. A few girls looked down to her for it and Haley was used to not fitting in.

It all changed for her when she entered high school. Those few mean girls used their verbal bullying against her and Haley used physical actions to fight back, letting them know where she stood and that she wasn't going to take it like she did was she was young. They didn't matter to her anymore. She was at the age where her real friends and school were the only things getting her out of her hometown. After a few suspensions fro fighting and then a huge fight leading to her expulsion, Haley was sent here by the court system. Once she turned 18, Haley could be charged on accounts of battery and be sent to jail. The judge hoped that this place would help turn Haley around.

"Yeah," Brooke said quietly, "but we aren't supposed to talk about them. They're classified."

"That's bullshit when you live in a house where people know everyone's business by talking." Nathan told her. "Now, I wonder when the new bastard's going to explode for real."

"Why are you so into Lucas, which so happens to be his name if you didn't remember it." Haley quipped.

"Because I can't stand him." Nathan simply stated, without reasoning.

Turning around on the stool, Haley muttered to Brooke and pointed behind her to Nathan. "that's one thing about this place that I'm not going to miss." She rolled her eyes, looking at Brooke.

"Shut up, Hales, you know you're going to miss me." Nathan said walking behind Haley and wrapping his arms around her shoulders and leaning on her for support.

"I'd let go of me if I were you." Haley warned him, trying to raise her arm so she could elbow him.

"Oh, come on, just give into it already." He joked, his lips brushing her cheek.

"I said knock it off!" Haley jutted her arm straight back into Nathan's stomach, smiling in triumph when she felt his grip loosen on her. "I gave you a fair warning." Haley said nonchalantly while winking to Brooke.

The entire time Brooke chose to keep quiet. She never really liked getting in on Nathan vs. Haley moments. There were times where she wanted to let out a chuckle or too when Haley had a one-up on Nathan but she kept it to herself because she knew that Nathan would involve her and she didn't want that.

"Jesus Christ, Haley. I think your elbows are almost as bony as Rachel's." Nathan complained, holding his side.

"Like I said, I told you not to touch me and I've told you numerous times I have no interest in getting with you." She air quoted.

"Right, because of your little boyfriend back home." Nathan scoffed, walking back to the other side of the counter to pick up his drink. "What was his name again?"

Haley squinted her eyes and bit her lip as she raised her arm to chuck the piece of fruit at Nathan. "His name's Jake and he's not my boyfriend."

Nathan caught the fruit in once hand while balancing his drink in the other. "Oh, yeah, he's just your best friend. You don't need to lie to me, Haley. I'll never tell him." He set his drink on the counter again before walking out of the kitchen, biting into the apple that Haley aimed at his head.

Haley let out a frustrated growl as she hopped off the stool, following Nathan. "There's nothing to tell!"

Brooke shook her head, capping up Nathan's Gatorade and put it back in the refrigerator. Sighing, she moved her bangs from her face. Her mind needed to be elsewhere and she knew just how she could set it straight again.

Walking out to the backyard, she stood in the place where she felt her sense of her empowerment. She didn't understand how she could stand there and have that dominance surge through her and then when it came to others she couldn't stand tall. Well, with Haley she didn't feel that way but with Nathan and Lucas she felt small. Even after she stood her ground with them, their presence brought something out in her just like with the boy who stole her away from herself.

_"I didn't think you had it in you."_

_"That makes two of us."_

* * *

><p>His second session was almost cancelled because Mrs. Davis wanted to have an important visit with Rachel after Mr. Davis properly bandaged her up. Mr. Davis also told his wife to let Rachel settle down before trying to get her to talk about it. He also wanted her to get further into investigating Lucas.<p>

Lucas wished that it was cancelled because after fighting with Nathan and spending his time trying to lure Rachel out of the bathroom, Lucas was done with his day already. He didn't feel like dealing with the fallout of his life or his feelings. She wanted to know how he felt? Well, he felt like taking a long nap and just forgetting that he was still here.

His foot lazily rested on his knee as he slouched in his chair. It was only or an hour but he might as well get comfortable for the dragged out analysis he was a shoe in to get. Already, Mrs. Davis went through and recapped their last session. She was hoping to continue down the same path of asking him about his mother and her relationships, including the one with his absentee father. He couldn't provide the answers because he wasn't the one in the relationships. he didn't even know his father. Plus, he didn't want to talk about the lowlife scumbags that brought him so much shame to have ever met in his life.

"I think it's time." Mrs. Davis said aloud, uncrossing her legs and standing up.

Lucas watched as she walked over to her desk and sat down, pulling her chair forward. She took the phone from the receiver and pressed a button. Then she opened up Lucas' file and scanned her eyes back and forth across it.

She was looking for something. A phone number to be exact, but of who? It couldn't be his arresting officer or trial judge. He hadn't fucked up yet to have her calling either one of those two. Lucas' mind raced with the possibilities of what in the file it could possibly be time for.

Lucas perked his head up when he heard the phone making a ringing tone. His awareness to what was happening started to heighten up as his body began to tense.

_"Hello?" _It was the strong coughing voice of a woman, a woman who was a heavy smoker and drinking. It was his mother.

Lucas looked over to her in alarm. Hearing his mother's voice wasn't what he had expected. Why did Mrs. Davis think that it was time to call her? Did she plan on having to talk to his mother all along? Thoughts raced through his head in regards to what was going on back home with his mother, Felix, and even Tony. Did any of their paths cross in the time he had been away? Was his mother doing okay now that she was truly along in the small apartment?

"Hello, Mrs. Scott?" Mrs, Davis asked.

_Her name is Miss Roe and why are you even calling my mother? _Lucas played with his fingers nervously, wanting to get answers of his own from Mrs. Davis.

_"Um, yes, and who is this?" _

"This is Victoria Davis from the Davis Youth Home. How are you? Do you have some time to answer some questions?" Mrs. Davis was using her calming voice, the one that she used when she wanted to pry answers out of people. Lucas hoped that his mother wouldn't fall for it.

_"Is-is Lucas there?" _Her voice shook, ignoring the fact that Mrs. Davis wanted to ask her questions about something. Lucas guessed that she was going to be asked the ones that he refused to answer.

Mrs. Davis smiled. "He sure is. You're on speaker phone. Would you like to say hi to him?" She looked up from her desk. "Why don't you come up here?"

Standing up, Lucas walked over to her. His hands put all his weight on her wooden desk. If he was any more stronger or not in the mood for this, he was sure his knuckles would be pale.

"You can talk first." Mrs. Davis encouraged, sitting back with her notepad and pen in her lap.

With a sigh, Lucas tapped his thumb on the side of his desk. A supervised phone call from his mom felt like he was having a family day at a county jail. Everything they both said was going to be heard and he was sure Mrs. Davis was going to jot it down on her stupid notepad and make a conclusion about it in regards to Lucas' overall shaping.

"Hi, Mom."

_"Lucas, it's good to hear you. How are you?" _Her voice sounded cheerful.

Lucas furrowed his brow. Usually when he talked to his mom on the phone she always asked him about what shit he had gotten himself into this time. She had never asked about his feelings or how he was doing. As much as he didn't want to react to the change in front of Mrs. Davis, his body couldn't fight off the feeling.

"I'm fine." Lucas looked to Mrs. Davis and shrugged. He honestly didn't know what to sat to her because he didn't expect to ever be talking to her while he was away.

_"That's it? You've been gone for how long now and all you can tell me is that you're fine?" _

"Well, what do you want me to tell you?" Lucas' attitude when it came to his mother at times was returning. There were just moments where talking to her was annoying because it felt to him like she was trying too much to make him her effort.

_"Oh, I don't know." _Her voice hinting that she was annoyed with him already. _"Tell me how things are going for you. What have you been doing? Give me something other than 'I'm fine.'"_

Well, he could tell her about how much of a bastard Nathan was and that he's gotten into trouble for wanting to kick his ass. He could mention that there was a potential suicidal redhead causing emotional ruckus left and right. _It was what every mother wanted their children to be around_, he scoffed to himself.

Again he found himself looking for guidance from Mrs. Davis. Maybe she could step in and save him from this conversation that was going nowhere or was this what she wanted to observe?

Mrs. Davis cleared her throat and sat forward again. "Um, Mrs. Scott, Lucas is actually on a schedule for his session so we don't have too much time here. I was hoping that I could hear more about you. What's been going on in your life that you are comfortable sharing."

_"What is this? I don't need a therapist." _She sounded somewhat frazzled.

"Just answers her questions, Mom. The sooner you do, the sooner you can go back to whatever you're doing and I can go back to following the court's orders." Lucas told her, hoping to speed up the process even more than he already had.

"Lucas, let your mother be the one to respond. Why don't you have a seat back down so you can't interrupt her?"

Lucas threw his hands up in the air. "Whatever." He did as he was told, anticipating on the inside what his mother was going to say next.

_"I wish I could apologize to you for Lucas' behavior. He's always been stubborn like a mule. If you ask me, I'd say he gets it from his father." _She let out a chuckle.

Mrs. Davis looked up to watch Lucas, who was now leaning forward himself at the mention that he was like his father. "Oh? Could you tell me anything else about Lucas' father?"

_"Well, there's not too much to tell since he left when I was pregnant with Lucas." _

"Lucas has already informed me on that detail. What about before, before you got pregnant? What was your relationship like with him then?"

_"Oh, well," _her laugh sounded again, _"we were that young and in love couple as teenagers. We were happy whenever were together and even had plans for the future. You know, like a spring wedding with those small white flowers. I forgot what they were called but when they're in full bloom they lose their petals and they're just so beautiful. I'm getting off topic here, I apologize."_

Mrs. Davis let out a small amused chuckle herself. "That's quite alright. So you would say that you two were happy together. There was never any physical or verbal abuse in your relationship. before or after finding out you were pregnant?"

_"That's the thing. We grew up and one day it all just changed for him. He was no longer that loving boy I met when I was fifteen. Our lives hadn't gone the way we always promised each other that they would. When I got pregnant with Lucas, it really sunk in that he wasn't ready to be a father. His drinking turned for the worst and one night he came home and told me he was couldn't handle it and he was leaving." _She paused. Lucas heard her take a deep breath. _"I tried to convince him to stay but he pushed me down. I didn't recognize him in that moment. The man I remember was set on giving me everything I needed and he did. He gave me Lucas, my son. I don't need that fairytale bullshit as long as I knew that I would never lose the one that I truly love, Lucas."_

His mind couldn't even begin to process everything that was falling out of her mouth. The ending, well she deserved a fucking round of applause for coming up with that one. Love. When was his mother ever in love and when had she ever stayed single when he was growing up?

For one, he didn't even want to hear another lie fall from that woman's lip. "I've had enough." Lucas said as he stood up, sending his chair to the floor with an echoed bang. His feet headed straight for the doorway, not looking back or telling his mother how full of it she was.

"Lucas! Lucas!" Mrs. Davis' voice called out to him as he stood up from his chair and walked out on his own out of her office.

When he heard his mother's voice over the speaker, he couldn't believe how happy she sounded. It made his lungs feel like they were going to collapse. His mother was fine. She was happy. When was she ever truly happy with her life? It must not have been he was around. From all the times he did things to keep her on her feet financially like dealing, she wasn't happy. Every time she got a call from the police station, she wasn't happy. The times where she told off her boyfriend that Lucas was her son and that she needed money and liabilities just to keep him, she wasn't happy. Now, Lucas was gone and she seemed to be pretty fucking happy.

Maybe Lucas would be happier if the Child Protective Services came on one of the nights that the police should have been called. Maybe he would have been placed in a home with a mother and a father who was always around to spend time with him and have enough money that there was no need to worry or get into dirty business. Maybe he wouldn't have had to practically raise himself to be strong and emotionally shut down. Maybe he wouldn't be here, where he was now and going crazy in his own head because people just wanted to understand what the fuck was wrong with him. His whole life was what was wrong with him. Is that the cost of happiness? Did his mother not want that for them, together?

He couldn't stand the sound of his own mother's voice. She was the one he was looking out for, even though he always told himself that he was only looking out for himself. His mother was the only person that Lucas learned love and support from. She lacked it but it was the only proof of it that Lucas had ever received.

Even today he had thoughts of regret when it came to his lack of protection of her and she never once told him that she was sorry for not being there for him when he was growing , he was using this program to protect her even more. Could she not see that? Did she not understand what was happening to him at all? He knew that he couldn't now place all the blame of his father. His mother was at fault, too.

His heavy feet brought him up the stairs, ignoring every sight or noise that surrounded him.

Turning into his room, he shut the door behind him and locked the door. His hands dug into his hair, pulling it upwards as he turned to go to his bed. When he finished turning, he stopped dead in his tracks. Fingers letting go of his hair, hands falling to his sides, Lucas stopped at stared at his uninvited guest.

"You seem to have a lot of courage being around me. What do you think you're doing in here?"

* * *

><p><strong>AN:<strong> I hope you enjoyed this, finally, updated chapter! While typing this chapter, I started falling in love with this story again and knew that I wanted to add more and more detail to it for you guys and for myself because I really want to get these characters across. Also, I hope you liked the Brucas scene that I know you've been waiting for as well. As I've stated before, their connection will be growing slowly as the story goes on. It seems like I'm dragging it on, but it's all for good measure to the characters individual story lines and feelings. Plus, we all know that Brucas is that couple with passionate heat and chemistry and this story wouldn't be a Brucas story without it!

I think this is my longest chapter to date. I'm sorry about all the rambling.

Your amazing feedback is always appreciated and I will see you guys in the next chapter!

-kaill


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